A Chinese national was sentenced on March 14 to 30 months in prison for his role in a scheme to smuggle protected turtles from the U.S. to Hong Kong, DOJ announced. Sai Keung Tin pleaded guilty last year to four counts of illegally exporting the turtles.
The Council of the European Union on March 17 added Al Azaim Media Foundation, the media branch of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province, to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime. The ISIL sanctions list now includes a total of 15 people and seven entities.
The Council of the European Union on March 14 extended the sanctions on those undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for another six months, pushing the restrictions out to Sept. 15. The council also decided not to renew the listings of four people and removed three deceased individuals from the list. The sanctions apply to nearly 2,400 people and entities.
The European Commission imposed countervailing duties on aluminum road wheels from Morocco on March 14, setting duties of 5.6% on exporters "benefitting purely from the Moroccan subsidies" and 31.4% on exporters "benefitting from both Moroccan and Chinese [Belt and Road Initiative] financial contributions." The commission said its CVD investigation found that the Moroccan government was providing subsidies to its automotive industry through "grants, loans at preferential rates, and tax exemptions/reductions" that are incompatible with World Trade Organization rules. In addition, the investigation revealed that China made "direct cross-border financial contributions" to one of the two Moroccan exporters in the industry.
Chinese drone maker DJI urged the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to compel the Pentagon to provide its counsel with classified information in the company's suit against its designation as a Chinese military company. DJI argued that the information is "undoubtedly" relevant since DOD used it as the basis for DJI's designation, and that disclosure is needed because the court can't evaluate the designation without access to the "very information on which that designation is based" (SZ DJI Technology Co. v. U.S. Department of Defense, D.D.C. # 24-02970).
A State Department notice declaring that all agency efforts to control international trade now constitute a "foreign affairs function" of the U.S. under the Administrative Procedure Act will ultimately be subject to the discretion of the courts, trade lawyers told us.
The U.K. on March 13 revoked the antidumping duty order on chamois leather from China after the Trade Remedies Authority conducted a transition review of the order and found that there were no U.K. producers of the subject merchandise in the period of investigation. The duties were revoked for goods falling under U.K. global tariff commodity codes 4114.10.10.00 and 4114.10.90.00.
The EU General Court last week rejected Russian oligarch Alexander Ponomarenko's application to annul his sanctions listing after he argued the European Council violated his procedural rights, committed "manifest errors of assessment" and violated principles of fundamental law.
Guatemala formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on March 10, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 92. The WTO needs 19 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The European Commission proposed extending the current duty exemption for imports of Ukrainian iron and steel products, which are a "significant source of revenue for Ukraine," the commission said last week. The current waiver, which has been extended twice before, is due to expire in June. The proposed extension must be approved by the European Council and Parliament. "The Commission is currently working on a longer-term solution which will provide economic certainty and a stable framework for trade to both Ukraine and the EU," it said.