President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will not ratify the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. Trump made the announcement during a speech at a National Rifle Association of America event on April 26. The White House said the treaty "cannot achieve its chief objective of addressing irresponsible arms transfers if these major arms exporters" -- including Russia and China -- "are not subject to it at all." The U.S. signed onto the treaty in 2013, but it was never ratified by the Senate as required. "The United States export controls have long been considered the gold standard for engaging in responsible arms trading and we will continue to use them under our own laws," the White House said.
China’s progress toward its satellite ambitions show the need for stricter export controls, stronger collaboration on those controls with U.S. allies, and more staffing and funding for U.S. enforcement agencies, panelists said during a meeting on U.S. space-related export controls. The discussion, part of a series of panels hosted by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on April 25, was billed as a conversation on China’s military-civil fusion. Lorand Laskai, a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, presented a dire outlook for the state of U.S.-China commercial space competition, saying China poses a major threat to U.S. export controls.
The Department of Justice is drawing closer to completing regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Hickey said, and is “working closely” with the Treasury Department to develop regulations for the “expanded authority” it grants the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Speaking at the National Conference on CFIUS and Team Telecom on April 24, Hickey presented FIRRMA and CFIUS as making the U.S. a more “attractive” alternative for investment than China while criticizing that country’s “foreign ownership restrictions, joint venture requirements” and “vague” approval processes that allow the Chinese government to “pressure [U.S. companies] to transfer their technology as a condition of market access.”
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Martha Barcena, speaking April 22 at the Georgetown Law School conference on U.S. ratification of the new NAFTA, implored: "We need USMCA not to be taken as a political hostage. We need USMCA to be taken in its own merits." She also said, "We should not let politics stand in the way of free trade that has yielded benefits for both of our societies."
The World Customs Organization Permanent Technical Committee has approved a draft of e-commerce technical specifications, and the package will next face review with the Policy Commission in June and the WCO Council soon after, said Ana Hinojosa, WCO director-Compliance and Facilitation. Hinojosa spoke via video at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on April 17. There are also some discussions on e-commerce planned with the World Trade Organization, she said. "They have invited us to participate in some of their workshops and we're very interested in us to engage in their process as well," she said. "We're hopeful that those conversations will be fruitful and something will come out of that."
The International Trade Commission estimated that by the sixth year after the new NAFTA's ratification, the U.S. economy would have 176,000 more jobs than it would have without the new revised trade deal. That's a 0.12 percent increase compared to the status quo.
SAN ANTONIO -- CBP is combing through its export processes to streamline, automate and harmonize agency review, exams and penalties across the ports, according to Jim Swanson, director of CBP’s cargo and security controls division. Speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference April 17, Swanson said CBP has “incrementally moved the ball” on exports in the past year, but is “on the verge” with “a few things we’re working on diligently.”
Leaders from South Korea and Saudi Arabia discussed “economic cooperation” and signed an agreement that will increase exports of “testing materials,” according to a press release from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on “technical cooperation in the field of energy efficiency,” which will lead to “exporting testing materials and consulting on energy efficiency,” the release said. The countries also agreed to “strengthen support in automobiles … [information and communications technology (ICT)], smart city, and airport construction,” and supported the possibility of more agreements in the future. The meeting was the second in a series for the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee, an effort by the two countries to strengthen bilateral ties.
In the April 16 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: