Days before Turkey followed through on purchases of Russian S-400 missile parts, a State Department official said there would be “consequences” if Turkey followed through on the deal and warned the country would be at risk of U.S. sanctions. R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 10 that the Trump administration has “made it very clear” to Turkey that the purchase would likely prompt sanctions. Turkey completed the purchase on July 13, according to a Reuters report. A House resolution passed in June also called for the U.S. to impose sanctions on Turkey if it completed the purchase.
The U.S. has not yet delivered the $8 billion in emergency arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates it announced on May 24, a State Department official told a Senate committee, causing both Republican and Democratic senators to question why the sales justified an emergency.
Britain is offering to release Grace 1, the seized Iranian oil tanker, if Iran can provide proof the ship is not transporting oil to Syria, United Kingdom Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said July 13. The ship was originally seized by Gibraltar Port and Law Enforcement on July 4 after British authorities suspected it of shipping oil to Syria, which would have violated European Union sanctions (see 1907080022). The ship was seized in Gibraltar territorial waters.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is backing Huawei, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Chinese Embassy in the United Arab Emirates said in a July 11 press release. The press release included comments from Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx, a South African market research company, who said the country has reaffirmed its commitment to buying from the Chinese tech giant. “It's very clear that Huawei has the full support of (our) government,” Goldstuck said, adding the company plays a “key role” in the South African market. He also pointed to lack of "home-grown technologies" that can ramp up quickly to 5G, so Huawei has a role to fill in the South African “engagement with the so-called 4th industrial revolution," he said.
In the July 8 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The European Union is hailing the completion of a mutual recognition agreement -- in the works for five years -- that the Food and Drug Administration can rely on European inspections of their drugmakers, and vice versa. The July 11 press release framed it as one of the significant goals sought by EU President Jean-Paul Juncker and President Donald Trump when they declared in July 2018 an intention to work toward trade talks and regulatory harmonization.
The United Kingdom updated three of its sanctions guides, the U.K. said in a series of July 10 press releases. The U.K. updated its guides on financial sanctions, terrorism-related sanctions and Venezuela sanctions.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 12 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Singapore Customs issued an advisory on best practices for imports and how to comply with the country’s customs laws, Singapore said in a July 11 notice. The notice contains information on which items are subject to the country’s Goods and Services Tax, when permits are required, and a series of common compliance violations and red flags as examples of what to avoid.