During a House hearing on China’s influence in Europe, several experts said the U.S. needs to more strongly cooperate with Europe against Chinese trading practices and economic influences, including on export controls and information sharing.
The U.S. trade war with China and the stalled revision of NAFTA have severely limited their export markets, filling their warehouses with unmovable products and slashing their revenues, farmers said during a House hearing on the state of the farm economy. The farmers called for a quick resolution of trade disputes with China and ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and suggested another market facilitation program similar to the relief package the Trump administration authorized in 2018 to aid farmers suffering from ongoing sparring over tariffs.
The U.S. seized a North Korean cargo ship for violating U.S. and international sanctions after it transported coal and “heavy machinery” and used U.S. banks for various transactions, the Department of Justice said in a May 9 press release.
The Trump administration on May 8 announced an executive order placing sanctions on Iran’s iron, steel, aluminum and copper sectors in what it said are the country’s “largest non-petroleum-related sources of export revenue."
China will take “necessary countermeasures” if the U.S. follows through on threats to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, according to an unofficial translation of a statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on May 8. “The escalation of trade friction is not in the interests of the people of the two countries and the people of the world,” the statement said. “The Chinese side deeply regrets that if the US tariff measures are implemented, China will have to take necessary countermeasures.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 29 -May 3 in case they were missed.
The recent Global Conference on the future of the Harmonized System for tariffs and trade held by the World Customs Organization resulted in some broad policy recommendations, the WCO said in a news release. Those recommendations will now be sent to the WCO Policy Commission for consideration. The event, which took place May 2-3 at the WCO, included "over 300 participants from Member Customs administrations, partner international organizations, industry associations, trade professionals, import/export companies and academia," it said.
While the Chinese have not levied tariffs on U.S. aircraft, the top manufactured good China imports from the U.S., that could change if President Donald Trump follows through on his May 5 threat to hike 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent, one expert believes. Edward Alden, a trade expert and professor at Western Washington University, said that the Chinese have been seriously negotiating for five months, and if the U.S. walks away, they will hunker down for a long, protracted trade war. They could levy tariffs on airplanes, increase customs hassles for those U.S. firms exporting goods to China and create geopolitical trouble for the U.S.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control’s recent publication of a sanctions compliance guide is the latest example of OFAC’s long-term effort to show companies what makes an effective compliance program, trade lawyers said. But the effort may also ultimately benefit the Treasury, according to one lawyer, by making it easier for the department to successfully prosecute compliance cases.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a settlement of about $870,000 with a New York-based shipbroking company that OFAC said violated weapons-related sanctions five times. The company, MID-SHIP Group LLC, violated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations by negotiating contracts among ship owners and charterers worth about $470,000 between February and November 2011, OFAC said May 2. The ships used in the transfers were owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which was sanctioned by OFAC in 2008.