The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Turkey’s government and issued three general licenses as Congress called for harsher restrictions on Turkey for its military activities in Syria (see 1910140005). OFAC’s sanctions -- issued after President Donald Trump announced an executive order granting the Treasury and State departments new power to sanction Turkey -- target Turkey’s defense ministry, energy ministry, defense minister (Hulusi Akar), energy minister (Fatih Donmez) and interior minister (Suleyman Soylu). Treasury said more sanctions may be coming.

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs on Oct. 10 issued new guidance documents outlining procedures for importing and exporting excise goods between the U.K. and the European Union after Brexit. “After Brexit, imports of excise goods from the EU will be treated the same as imports from the rest of the world. This includes moving imported excise goods within the UK,” the guidance said. The Simplified Accompanying Administrative Document (SAAD) and EU distance-selling arrangements will no longer be used, and a customs declaration will have to be completed, though a full declaration may not be necessary if transitional simplified procedures are used, it said.

EU exporters will no longer be able to claim value-added tax (VAT) refunds on goods exported to the United Kingdom after Brexit, the U.K.’s HM Revenue & Customs said in an Oct. 9 guidance document. Instead, they must follow manual processes for companies outside the U.K., it said. The main differences are that the repayment period runs July 1 to June 30 instead of the calendar year, and that the deadline for submitting a claim is the following Dec. 31 (six months from the end of the claim period), HMRC said. Claimants will also have to provide a certificate confirming their taxable status, as well as all original invoices and receipts to support the claim, it said.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Oct. 11 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Japan’s trade minister said there are still “some issues” that need to be worked out during negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership despite progress being made, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 11 press conference.

Japan’s Industrial Standards Committee revoked a certification for a manufacturing company, which may affect its ability to sell certain products, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 11 press release. Japan said the company’s factory, belonging to Takako Co., did not meet standards because it “has not properly conducted some tests specified in the Japanese Industrial Standards” that were “deemed critical.”

Japan plans to decrease planned imports of non-fat dairy milk by 6,000 metric tons during the 2019 Japanese fiscal year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released Oct. 10. The move lowers Japan’s planned imports from 20,000 metric tons announced in May to 14,000, USDA said. The decrease was caused by “lower than expected consumption of yogurt and other dairy products” in Japan during the summer, the report said, which pushed non-fat dry milk stocks higher.

China plans to launch six “international marketing service platforms” to try to promote overseas trade, according to an Oct. 11 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The initiative will create centers in the United Arab Emirates, Romania, South Africa, Bangladesh and Hungary, the HKTDC said.

A top U.S. Department of Agriculture official is traveling with about 80 industry representatives and state government officials to Vietnam Oct. 15-18 to try to expand markets for U.S. exporters, USDA said in an Oct. 11 press release. Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney will lead the group to Ho Chi Minh City and also meet buyer delegations from Thailand and Burma, USDA said.

The State Department approved potential sales to Kuwait and Tunisia of about $281 million and $234 million worth of defense items, respectively, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in notices released Oct. 11. The sale to Kuwait involves 19 “M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lifting Extraction System (HERCULES) recovery vehicles,” the DSCA said, and the sale to Tunisia involves 12 “T-6C Texan trainer aircraft and related equipment and support.” The principal contractors in the Kuwait sale are Pennsylvania-based BAE Systems, Nevada-based US Ordnance, Texas-based Raytheon and Virginia-based DRS Technologies, Harris Corp. and Northrop Grumman. The prime contractor for the Tunisia sale will be Kansas-based Textron Aviation Defense