The European Council approved a negotiating mandate for trade talks with the U.S., but says it will not finish a free-trade agreement until the steel and aluminum tariffs on its member countries are lifted. The mandate, which was approved April 15, excludes agricultural trade from the talks.
House Republicans recently introduced a bill that would abolish the Export-Import Bank of the United States, saying the bank’s export subsidies give advantages to specific industries while harming domestic competition and certain sectors of the U.S. economy. If passed, the bank would be abolished three years after the bill’s enactment date. The bill contains a provision that would make the secretary of the Treasury responsible for any “outstanding obligations of the Federal Government under any programs terminated” by the bill. The bill would also terminate the Office of Inspector General for the bank, transferring the office’s obligations to the Treasury. The bill, the "Export-Import Bank Termination Act," was sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., and five other House Republicans. It was introduced March 27 and referred to the House Financial Services Committee.
The Department of the Treasury may soon sanction government officials in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted while he was being questioned April 9 during a House hearing for the department’s 2020 budget request.
A House Democrat and Republican recently introduced a bill that would modify financing of certain U.S. exports to Cuba, allowing exporters to enter into contracts with certain Cuban agricultural businesses. The bill, introduced March 27 by Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., would amend a section in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 to allow U.S. “investment” in Cuba, according to the bill. The bill defines investment as purchasing a share of ownership of an agricultural business, sharing in profits of a business or entering into a contract to “sell goods, services, or technology relating to the agricultural business.” Currently, U.S. agricultural exporters are not allowed to “extend credit” to Cuban buyers, the bill said, causing exports to Cuba to decline and placing U.S. exporters at a “key disadvantage relative to other exporting countries.”
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced two settlements totaling more than $650 million with a United Kingdom-based bank that allegedly violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe and now-repealed sanctions on Myanmar and Sudan, OFAC said in an April 9 notice. The announcement marked OFAC’s largest settlement amount since June 2014, when the agency reached a $963 million settlement with a bank that also violated sanctions on Cuba, Iran, Myanmar and Sudan.
A Republican and a Democratic representative are urging the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services to fully fund the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in the wake of the president's 2019 budget request. Reps. Denny Heck, D-Wash., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., were planning to send a letter to the subcommittee about the critical role played by CFIUS, which was reformed in 2018 when Congress passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA). FIRRMA expanded the jurisdiction of CFIUS when the committee reviews transactions by foreign entities in the U.S. to determine their effect on national security, according to the Treasury Department. Among many changes, FIRRMA expanded which transactions CFIUS can review and allowed it to undertake lengthier investigations. In their letter, the representatives stressed the importance of granting “dedicated funds” to CFIUS, as the Treasury recommended in its budget request. “Lack of resources would impair how effectively CFIUS can enforce mitigation agreements and its ability to maintain awareness of relevant non-notified transactions,” the letter says.
The House passed a bill that would prohibit the trade of defense-related products and services to the security forces of Venezuela, potentially further restricting the Nicolas Maduro regime's access to weapons. The bill, called the Venezuela Arms Restriction Act, was passed in the House on March 25. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 26 but has not yet seen a vote.
The International Trade Commission is accepting proposals for changes to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff schedule for potential adoption in 2027, it said in a notice. The proposals will be reviewed by the ITC, CBP and the Census Bureau, and will be published for further comment, prior to potential submission to the relevant WCO committees by November 2022 for final WCO approval by June 2024. Proposals are due to the ITC by March 1, 2020.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 25-29 in case they were missed.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer touched on India’s potential retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. and criticized the country’s “significant tariff and nontariff barriers” in the 2019 National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers. The 540-page report, released March 29, said India’s tariff barriers “impede imports of U.S. products into India” and was critical of India’s “complex” customs system and failure to “observe transparency requirements.”