Japan’s trade minister said the recently signed U.S.-Japan trade agreement is “powerful” and lauded its reduced tariff measures, according to an unofficial translation of a transcript of a Sept. 27 press conference. “I think it was of great significance that we broadly eliminated protectionist measures that would distort the global supply chain,” Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Isshu Sugawara said. He said the agreement will take effect after it is reviewed by Japan’s “Legal Bureau” and approved by Japan’s legislature, echoing U.S. comments that the two sides plan to conduct more trade negotiations on a comprehensive agreement.
The State Council Information Office of China released a white paper titled “China and the World in the New Era” on Sept. 28, detailing what it said is its new “trade and investment liberalization” regulations, increased protection of intellectual property rights, its additional free trade zones and more. The paper also includes a section titled “China will never seek hegemony,” saying it does not want to “threaten, challenge or replace any other country” in its process of becoming stronger through its own development, but says other countries should not expect China to “trade its core interests or to accept anything that is damaging to China’s own sovereignty, security and development interests.”
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement is expected to be finalized this year, China’s vice minister of commerce said, adding that talks are “accelerating” and little obstacles remain.
The Trump administration is continuing the President’s Export Council until Sept. 30, 2021, the White House said Sept. 27. The council, a federal advisory committee -- which usually meets twice a year, according to the Federal Advisory Committee database -- did not meet in fiscal year 2018.
The Agricultural Marketing Service amending its U.S. Standards for Grades of Apples to remove smooth net-like russeting as a grade-determining factor in the U.S. Extra Fancy, U.S. Fancy and U.S. No. 1 grades for Fuji apples, it said. The final rule also removes obsolete references to the location where color standards may be examined and purchased, AMS said. The changes also affect the grade requirements under the Export Apple Act.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control updated two Venezuelan general licenses related to dealings with certain bonds and securities, OFAC said in a Sept. 30 notice. General License No. 3F is replaced with General License No. 3G, which authorizes dealings with certain Venezuela-related bonds until March 31, 2020. General License No. 9E is replaced with General License No. 9F, which authorizes certain dealings related to Petroleos de Venezuela securities, also until March 31, 2020.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Russian people, entities and other actors for trying to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, Treasury said in a Sept. 30 press release. The sanctions also increase pressure on Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a previously designated Russian businessman, by sanctioning three of his planes, a yacht and employees of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which Prigozhin funds, Treasury said.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said U.S. sanctions are not being enforced effectively and criticized what he said is a lack of U.S. involvement in the Japan-South Korea trade dispute.
The next few months include a "rapid-fire succession of trade and tech war deadlines" that poses a high level of uncertainty for the fight between the U.S. and China, Bank of America economists Ethan Harris and Alexander Lin said in a Sept. 30 research report. Of those deadlines, what happens with Huawei's temporary general license is likely the most important unknown, they said. Huawei on Nov. 17 will be cut off from all U.S. exports, but "we expect an 'extend and pretend' scenario where Huawei remains on the 'entity list' but is allowed to keep buying US inputs."
Revenue declined 23 percent in Micron Technology’s fiscal year 2019 ended Aug. 29, but senior executives on a fiscal Q4 call Sept. 26 wouldn’t break out how much of the decrease was attributable to the disruption in shipments to Huawei. Revenue in Q4 was down 42 percent from a year earlier, but up 2 percent sequentially, exceeding Micron’s previous guidance on better-than-expected demand in the quarter, the company said. “In recent months, we have seen increased demand from customers headquartered in mainland China,” CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said. Some customers “could be making strategic decisions to build higher levels of inventory in the face of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” he said. The components Micron sells have heavy exposure in the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump announced in August he would hike those tariffs Oct. 1.