The directors-general of customs for all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states launched a joint plan to fully implement the ASEAN Authorized Economic Operator Mutual Recognition Agreement by 2025, Singapore Customs announced. The joint plan is based on the Strategic Plan of Customs Development on AEO and was announced during the opening ceremony of the directors-generals' June 7 meeting in Singapore. Lawrence Wong, Singapore's minister for finance, told the gathering that the action plan "would enable successfully validated businesses to have reduced documentary and cargo inspections across all ASEAN countries, on top of other benefits." Wong also highlighted two other areas of customs collaboration -- greater work with ASEAN's major trading partners and common e-commerce standards.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments from stakeholders on what they would like USTR's negotiating objectives to be on issues related to conformity assessment, technical regulations and standards, customs and trade facilitation, and practices Taiwan has "that undermine fair market opportunities for U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses."

China banned the direct or indirect import of poultry and related products from Gabon after the country reported cases of an H5N1 subtype of avian influenza on a poultry farm, China's General Administration of Customs announced June 1, according to an unofficial translation. To prevent cases of the avian flu from infecting Chinese poultry farms, the country banned poultry from Gabon and said that poultry shipped from Gabon will be returned or destroyed.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Koji Tomita signed an agreement that will change the beef safeguard trigger under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, USTR announced June 2, but the date the changes will come into force is still not known. "[B]oth countries will follow their respective domestic procedures in order for the updated agreement to enter into force," a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service release said.

China's General Administration of Customs imposed phytosanitary requirements for imports of fresh avocados from Kenya, the agency announced, according to an unofficial translation. The requirements say avocado orchards that ship their goods to China must be registered by the National Plant Health Supervision Bureau and approved for registration by the General Administration of Customs. Such registration information includes the orchard's name, address and identification code to allow for the accurate tracing of the goods' origin information.

USDA on June 2 published a “simplified description” of facility registration requirements under China’s customs Decree 248 along with a set of frequently asked questions. The report also includes an updated list of commodities covered under Decree 248, which introduced and revised requirements for certain foreign exporter facilities registrations (see 2112030007). The scope of Decree 248 has so far been mostly unclear despite “repeated U.S. requests for clarification” (see 2204010027).

Nepal recently imposed a temporary ban on certain luxury imports, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 2. The ban, which will remain in effect until mid-July, applies to certain automobiles, tobacco products, alcohol, diamonds, certain TV sets, snacks, and mobile phones worth more than $600, the report said. Emergency vehicles, including ambulances, are exempted from the import ban.

Fiji's Supreme Court delayed a U.S. bid to seize a $325 million superyacht allegedly belonging to a sanctioned Russian billionaire, granting the yacht's registered owner, Millemarin Investments, a temporary stay on a previous ruling that would have allowed the U.S. to seize the ship this week, according to documents from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Bloomberg reported June 2.

China issued a response to a recent speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken announcing the U.S. strategy in its China dealings as being to "invest, align and compete." A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said that the U.S. should not kick-start a new identity based on China as a shared enemy and that, while there will inevitably be competition between the world's two largest economies, the relationship cannot be "defined by competition." The spokesperson then shifted to attack the use of U.S. sanctions, decrying the use of national security as a guise for imposing the sanctions and the restrictions' impact on supply chains. "This is not responsible competition, but rather unscrupulous suppression and containment," the spokesperson said. "If the US insists on defining China-US relations by major power competition and pursuing 'I win you lose' policy objectives, it will only push the two countries to confrontation and conflict and lead the world to division and turmoil."

Indonesia ended its export ban on palm oil less than four weeks after it began, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 1. The ban was originally put in place to reduce the domestic price of bulk cooking oil and ensure supply (see 2205110014), but the country now has more than enough cooking oil despite some still high prices, the report said. The ban had applied to crude palm oil and certain derivative products, the report said, and had caused global palm oil prices to jump by more than 200%.