A new national single window launched last month by Cambodia will allow traders to submit all their export and import documents through one portal, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported last week. It also will simplify application procedures for licenses, permits, certificates and other legal documents, the report said, and is linked to the single window for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Single Window “to allow data exchange with other ASEAN member states.” The window “also demonstrates Cambodia's commitment to meeting its trade facilitation agreement with the World Trade Organization,” HKTDC said.

China will reimpose tariffs on 134 items from Taiwan because Taipei didn't reciprocate with similar tariff concessions as part of a trade deal with Beijing, China's Ministry of Commerce announced May 31, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said it revoked the previously issued tariff suspensions because Taiwan violated the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on gradually eliminating tariffs on most of the goods traded between the parties. The tariffs will be reinstated starting June 15, Chinese state-run news outlet Xinhua reported.

Chinese and Japanese officials this week held the second meeting of the China-Japan Export Control Dialogue Mechanism, where they discussed “issues of concern in the field of export control,” according to unofficial translations from China’s Commerce Ministry and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Officials at the Shanghai meeting also held a question-and-answer session with Japanese and Chinese companies. The two nations “agreed to continue to maintain close communication, deepen the understanding of each other's export control systems, improve the transparency of export control measures, and ensure that normal trade is not hindered,” China said.

China has lifted trade restrictions on five Australian meat processing facilities, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said May 30. Those restrictions were among several “trade impediments” China has imposed against Australia in recent years (see 2404030026 and 2005130013), the ministry said, adding that Beijing has now lifted import restrictions on eight beef processing facilities, while two facilities still face suspensions. “We continue to press China to remove the remaining trade impediments, including for Australia's rock lobster industry,” Australia said.

China’s commerce ministry this week declined to confirm reports that it’s considering new import tariffs on European and American vehicles (see 2405220042) and instead continued to criticize U.S. and EU measures against Chinese electric cars.

China may consider raising import tariffs on cars from the EU, the U.S. and possibly elsewhere, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said this week.

China has sanctioned Mike Gallagher, former Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin and former chair of the House Select Committee on China, the country’s Foreign Ministry announced May 21, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said Gallagher has “frequently used words and deeds that interfere in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and infringe on China's interests.” China said the sanctions will freeze Gallagher’s assets in the country, ban Chinese companies from doing business with Gallagher, and block him from entering the country.

China this week launched an antidumping duty probe on imports of polyoxymethylene copolymers, an industrial plastic, from the U.S., the EU, Japan and Taiwan, the country’s Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation. China said the plastic has "high mechanical strength” and can “partially replace metal materials such as copper, zinc, tin, and lead,” including in auto parts and industrial machinery. The ministry is accepting public comments on the scope of the probe within 20 days and is expecting to complete the investigation within one year, although it can extend that timeline by six months.

China added three U.S. defense companies, including a business unit of Boeing, to its Unreliable Entity List for arms sales to Taiwan, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced May 20. The agency said it added Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security unit, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and General Dynamics Land Systems to the list, prohibiting them from participating in “import and export activities related to China” and subjecting them to other restrictions, according to an unofficial translation.

Australia last week sanctioned six entities that it said have ties to North Korea’s supply of weapons and military items to Russia. “Australia condemns, in the strongest possible terms, North Korea’s illegal export and Russia’s procurement and use of North Korean ballistic missiles, in support of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine,” the country said in a May 17 notice. The notice didn’t list the designated entities.