Experts in the United Kingdom are expressing a skepticism over the effectiveness of Britain's new freeport system, questioning the ports' ability to attract new investment and provide duty relief for imports. They point to accusations of the political nature of the system's execution and the fallacy that the U.K. couldn't have set up the freeports when it was part of the EU, when in fact they existed on England's shores from 1984 to 2012. A lot of “magical thinking” goes into freeports, Steptoe & Johnson's Christophe Bondy said.
China imposed sanctions on nine British nationals and four businesses that “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about the serious human rights violations by China against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a March 26 news release. The sanctions, which take the form of an asset freeze and travel ban, come as a response to the United Kingdom's own sanctions against Chinese individuals or entities on March 23 that the kingdom coordinated with the European Union and the U.S. (see 2103220034). Five members of Parliament were included in the Chinese sanctions: Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Neil O'Brien, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton. The other four individuals are House of Lords members David Alton and Helena Kennedy, lawyer Geoffrey Nice and Joanne Nicola Smith Finley of New Castle University. The four entities are the China Research Group, Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Uyghur Tribunal and Essex Court Chambers.
The European Union is expanding its control over exports of COVID-19 vaccines made in the bloc and is now basing its decision to block exports on “reciprocity” and “proportionality,” the European Commission announced in a March 24 news release. The EC will consider whether the destination country restricts its own exports of vaccines or their components and whether the COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates in the target country are better or worse than the EU's, it said. The EC said it also will consider whether a vaccine export will threaten the EU's inoculation rate. Seventeen countries previously exempt from restrictions are now under export control while 92 low- and middle-income countries remain exempt, it said.
The United Kingdom will establish four new trade and investment hubs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and northeastern England to bolster its exporting ability, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss detailed in a March 23 news release. These Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Darlington hubs will house teams of export and investment specialists to help businesses maximize their export potential and access major trade markets, the release said. The Department for International Trade expects to have 550 staff at these hubs by 2025, with an ultimate goal of 750 by 2030. “I'm determined to use UK trade policy to benefit every part of the UK. These Trade and Investment hubs will help this country to an export and jobs-led recovery,” Truss said in the release. While technically launched in September, the Edinburgh hub will see a large surge in employees following this March 23 relaunch, the release said. The Darlington hub will also be the city's second major Department for International Trade site.
A 55-year-old man has been extradited to the U.S. from Malaysia, making him the first North Korean national to be brought to the states to face a criminal charge, the Department of Justice announced in a March 22 news release. Mun Chol Myong, a North Korean businessman, is charged with laundering money through the U.S. financial system to provide luxury items to North Korea. Mun allegedly defrauded U.S. banks for years and violated sanctions on the oppressive North Korean regime in amounts exceeding $1.5 million, according to recently unsealed court documents. He also was allegedly affiliated with the Reconnaissance Geneal Bureau, North Korea's chief intelligence organization. He made his first appearance March 22 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he had been indicted May 2, 2019, on six counts of money laundering. Mun was arrested in Malaysia May 14, 2019.
Canada and the United Kingdom will look to ratify their Trade Continuity Agreement by April 1, Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng announced in a March 19 press release. Having established a Memorandum of Understanding in December to continue preferential tariff rates through the Brexit process, Canada and the U.K. have decided to ratify the short-term agreement and move on to future negotiations on a more ambitious free trade agreement. The TCA gives Canadian exporters continued preferential access to the U.K. market with 98% of Canadian products receiving tariff-free admission to the Kingdom. According to the corresponding press release from Britain's International Trade Secretary Liz Truss, the agreement ensures the elimination of tariffs on beef, fish, chocolate bars and soft drinks and the eventual zero tariffs on cars. The agreement will save an estimated 42 million GB pounds on tariffs, the release said.
Florida resident Victor Mones Coro was sentenced to 55 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela by chartering private flights for top Venezuelan officials, the Department of Justice said March 17. Sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mones Coro provided millions of dollars in charter flight services to former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, his frontman Samark Lopez Bello, Venezuelan Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno and President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 campaign for president. The chartered flights violate the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions on the Venezuelan officials for their role in subverting democracy and proliferating authoritarianism. Mones Coro also will pay a $250,000 fine and serve two years of supervised release.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for “reciprocity” and “proportionality” in the European Union's COVID-19 vaccine export regime, at a March 17 press conference. To incentivize greater openness in other countries' vaccine exports, von der Leyen placed a special emphasis on reciprocity, detailing how the EU is prioritizing exporting vaccines to countries that create their own vaccines. “We think this is an invitation to be open,” she said. “So that we also see exports from those countries coming back to the European Union.”
Chinese regulators are considering a new tax on light-cycle oil imports, a low-quality petroleum input that's blended into diesel and fuel oil, Bloomberg reported March 17. The Chinese government asked for feedback from energy companies on a draft plan and could be ready to implement the tax as soon as the first half of 2021, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. Currently, LCO imports are exempt from China's fuel consumption tax. Demand for LCO imports skyrocketed in 2020 as China ramped up infrastructure projects to stimulate its COVID-ravaged economy, bringing most of the LCO in from South Korea, the report said.
Disappointed with the pace of the United Kingdom government's response on forced labor issues in China's Xinjiang region, parliamentarians on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee issued a report on the situation, including policy recommendations on how to further crack down on modern slavery in Xinjiang. The BEIS Committee, responsible for oversight of the BEIS Department, issued sweeping recommendations for the government agency for its role in upholding human rights commitments in relation to business ties with China. The March 17 report declared that the BEIS Department “has shown little sign that it is taking a proactive or meaningful lead on investigating UK business links to forced labour and other human rights abuses in China or elsewhere.”