U.S. pork exports to Mexico rebounded this year and are expected to continue improving in 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said Nov. 19. Mexico was the top international destination for U.S. pork in the second quarter of 2021, USDA said, adding that shipments reached record highs in August and September. The turnaround comes after several years of lagging pork exports to Mexico, partly caused by Mexican retaliatory duties in response to the U.S.’s Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. Although the U.S. repealed its tariffs in 2019, recovery for the U.S. pork industry was slow due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which “quickly began to wreak havoc and weigh on pork shipments to Mexico,” USDA said. The agency said pent-up consumer demand, spilling over into next year, “should allow U.S. exports to return to the rising trend seen before the pandemic.”

For the first time, U.S. rice exporters didn’t fill Colombia’s tariff rate quota this past year, due to lower domestic prices in Colombia and increased competition from South American exporters, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said Nov. 18. U.S. rice exports to Colombia have dropped to just $5 million worth from January through September, USDA said, which was “significantly lower” than past years. Not only did rice production reach record levels in Colombia this past year, but other countries recently obtained duty-free access to the market after signing free trade deals with Colombia, USDA said. The agency expects “large carryover stocks” of rice to continue to “dampen'' Colombia's import demand for U.S. rice. “Even though the current 2021/22 USDA forecast assumes that Colombian imports will pick up pace towards the end of the marketing year, prospects for U.S. sales this year remain highly uncertain,” USDA said.

The Canada Border Services Agency has seized one shipment of goods due to forced labor concerns as of Nov. 15, a CBSA spokesperson said, confirming a recent report in The Globe and Mail. "The goods were declared as women’s and children’s clothing from China" and "the shipment was intercepted in the Quebec region," the spokesperson said. "CBSA’s officers have the authority to make tariff classification decisions on imported goods, based on an analysis of supporting evidence" and the shipment was classified in tariff number 9897.00.00 as goods made from forced labor, the spokesperson said. "Tariff classification determinations are made on a case-by-case basis for each importation intercepted."

Mexico recently published a phytosanitary requirement sheet for U.S. potato imports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Nov. 10. The report includes a translation of the sheet, which doesn’t allow “for immediate importation of U.S. potatoes to the entirety of Mexico,” USDA said. The sheet includes information on potato shipping compliance requirements, labeling, authorized Mexican entry points and more.

The Federal Trade Commission will vote at a Nov. 18 open meeting on whether to issue orders to large retailers and consumer goods suppliers to study the competition impact of supply chain disruptions, the agency said Nov. 10. The FTC Act Section 6(b) study would “focus on why these disruptions occur, whether they are leading to specific bottlenecks, shortages, anticompetitive practices, or contributing to rising consumer prices.”

Hurricane Ida’s damage to port facilities in New Orleans has caused “significant” delays to exports of feed grains to Costa Rica, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said Nov. 8. Animal operators have had to ration their feed due to shortages of corn and soybeans in Costa Rica, where the poultry, pork and dairy sectors “rely almost exclusively” on U.S. suppliers, USDA said. The agency also said the shortage forced Costa Rica to shut down its only soybean crushing mill for weeks in October. Costa Rican importers expect market conditions to return to normal by mid-November.

Canada recently made preliminary affirmative determinations in its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of mainland Chinese container chassis, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Nov. 2. Canada will preliminarily assess both AD and CV duties for chassis classified under Harmonized System codes 8716.39.3090, 8706.00.9090, 8716.39.9090, 8716.40.0000, 8716.80.2090, 8716.90.3000, 8716.90.9910 and 8716.90.9990. Chassis from mainland China will be subject to a 151.8% combined duty rate, while chassis from Dongguan CIMC Vehicle Co. Ltd. will be subject to a 59.1% combined duty rate. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal will hold a Jan. 17 hearing to determine whether the dumping and subsidization of Chinese chassis “has caused injury or retardation or is threatening to cause injury to the domestic industry,” HKTDC said, and a final determination is expected in February.

Canada recently updated its import attestation form for incoming shipments of romaine lettuce from California, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Oct. 28. Importer Attestation Form 5961 is required for shipments from California's Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey counties, USDA said. The updated form reimposed certain additional import requirements for romaine lettuce and attests that sampling was conducted under Canada’s temporary Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licensing conditions.

Quebec recently introduced legislation that could remove certain labeling and registration requirements for “upholstered and stuffed articles” sold in the province, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Oct. 22. Quebec, which is the only Canadian province that imposes the specific requirements, would continue to impose other “applicable federal requirements” on labeling if the legislation is passed. Ontario and Manitoba removed similar requirements in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Quebec requires that labels and inscriptions on all goods appear in French. The French language requirement would remain intact as well on upholstered and stuffed goods.

CBP will end its temporary travel restrictions on the northern and southern borders as of Oct. 22 for travelers who have received the full COVID-19 vaccine treatment, CBP said in a pair of notices. The restrictions will continue to limit border crossing by unvaccinated people through Jan. 21, 2022, it said. The travel restrictions don't apply to cargo operations and exempt crossing the border from Canada or Mexico to work in the U.S.