China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held emergency meetings this week with the country’s leading semiconductor firms to assess the impact of new U.S. chip restrictions, Bloomberg reported Oct. 19. Chinese officials stressed to executives from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., supercomputer company Dawning Information Industry and others that the domestic market would provide enough demand to make up for any lost sales caused by the U.S. export restrictions, the report said. But the government officials also “appeared uncertain about the way forward and at times appeared to have as many questions as answers for the chipmakers.” During the meeting, YMTC warned the government that “its future may be in jeopardy,” the report said.
Stellantis may stop making cars in China, given rising geopolitical tensions and sanctions worries. Speaking to reporters at a Paris car show Oct. 17, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the automaker may roll out an "asset-light" strategy for its Peugeot and Citroen brands, importing to China cars made in Europe and the U.S., Bloomberg reported. Tavares' comments come after the company shuttered its only Jeep factory in China due to local political interference in the market (see 2207280018). Other car manufacturers, including Volkswagen and General Motors, are further expressing concerns over the Chinese market, wondering whether the sanctions hitting Russia could apply to China if it were to invade Taiwan, Bloomberg said.
China imposed quarantine and sanitation requirements on imports of edible aquatic animals from Papua New Guinea, the General Administration of Customs said in an Oct. 13 notice, according to an unofficial translation. The requirements apply to crustaceans, fish and mollusks native to Papua New Guinea, fished from waters independently managed by Papua New Guinea and shipped to China for consumption. Exempted are the "Endangered Wildlife" species listed in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Exports of these goods to China must be approved and supervised by Papua New Guinea's Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and comply with the relevant aquatic animal quarantine and safety hygiene requirements of China and Papua New Guinea, China Customs said.
The Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department Oct. 14 issued the latest version of signatures of agency officers authorized to sign and issue Delivery Verification Certificates, and import and export licenses covering strategic commodities.
Australia and South Korea held their first trade ministers meeting under the two countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Oct. 13, discussing increasing trade and technology collaboration. The two sides said they hope to make progress on “securing critical minerals supply chains, expanding high-quality agricultural exports, and collaborating in new fields like biotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics,” Australia said in a news release. Australia also “reaffirmed” its commitment to remain a “stable, secure, and reliable supplier of energy” to South Korea.
Most ministries in Vietnam have agreed in principle to reduce the excise tax on gasoline and value-added tax on gasoline and oil given the surge in global gas prices, the state-run CustomsNews reported Oct. 11. The Ministry of Finance consulted with ministries and local governments on the National Assembly's draft resolution to lower the excise taxes and VAT and reported that all respondents agreed with the resolution's "purpose and views." The ministry said it was necessary to make the tax reduction if the price of petrol and oil continued to fluctuate. Ten ministries and ministerial level-agencies, 18 localities and four associations and individuals reported their support for the resolution, CustomsNews said.
Singapore State courts sentenced Muhammad Rifa'ie Bin Mazlan Oct. 11 to 26 months in prison for conspiring to sell cigarettes for which duties had not been paid, Singapore Customs announced. A Singaporean national, Rifa'ie will also serve one month and 18 days in prison for possessing and using property "reasonably suspected" to be obtained from criminal conduct. He pleaded guilty to one charge under the Customs Act and two counts of violating Section 47AA of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes Act.
China recently updated the list of products whose foreign production facilities are required to register under Decree 248, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report this month. The list's 148 new products include meat, seeds, spices and vegetables. China also removed 100 products from the list, including certain "reptile meat," bamboo shoots and molasses. Under Decree 248, certain U.S. production facilities may be subject to revised customs and registration procedures before their products can enter China (see 2111040018 and 2110130022).
China this week criticized the U.S. decision to increase export controls on technology destined to the country (see 2210070049) and add more Chinese entities to the Unverified List (see 2210070006), calling the moves “a typical practice of technological bullying.” China’s Ministry of Commerce said “it not only violates the spirit of cooperation between the two sides and ignores the facts of cooperation between the two sides, but also seriously hinders the normal economic and trade exchanges between Chinese and American enterprises,” according to an unofficial translation of a statement.
India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade extended until Oct. 10 the date for applications for tariff-rate quotas already issued under tariff head 7108 for the third quarter of fiscal year 2022-23, the DGFT said in an Oct. 6 notice. Also, the TRQ issued under tariff head 7108 for imports in the first and second quarter of FY 2022-23 will be revalidated until Nov. 30.