The U.K. and Thailand officially signed a new trade partnership last week that will boost British exports, the U.K.’s Department for Business and Trade said. The “Enhanced Trade Partnership” will help British businesses more easily sell to Thailand, the U.K. said, and commits both sides to “identifying opportunities that could be delivered” through a possible future U.K.-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. The U.K. noted that Thailand also recently agreed to accept the U.K.’s vehicle emissions testing standards, which will allow the British auto industry to “save millions” on car exports to Thailand.

The EU’s ongoing countervailing duty probe into Chinese electric vehicles (see 2408200020) has brought the two sides’ industries to a “crossroads,” and Beijing will continue to lobby against the tariffs through negotiations “until the very end,” China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said this week.

The U.K. will officially join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Dec. 15 after securing the final ratification required to trigger the country’s accession to the trade deal (see 2312290034), the Department for Business and Trade said last week. The deal, which currently includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, is expected to remove tariffs from more than 99% of U.K. exports to CPTPP members, the country said. The U.K. needed ratification from six countries to join the deal.

A former top trade negotiator in Mexico, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, said he doesn't think the review of the USMCA will be about fine-tuning or technical changes to the trade pact.

A new, “modernized” Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement took effect July 1 that maintains the preferential market access outlined in the two countries' original deal from 2017 while adding new language to further “enhance trade” and incorporate provisions on labor, the environment and more, Canada said this week. “The modernized CUFTA will enhance trade, increase economic cooperation” and “signals Canada’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security, stability and economic recovery following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country,” Canada said. Mary Ng, Canada’s trade minister, said “when the war is over, Canadian businesses and exporters will be ready to help rebuild the Ukraine of tomorrow.”

The gaps in trade policies between the U.S. and Europe, despite their agreement on the problems, and the difficulty of improving trade relations with major developing countries were grappled with this week by a panel of experts from the U.S. and Europe.

A joint statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the president of Kazakhstan said that the Central Asian country wants to cooperate on trade facilitation, including harmonizing and digitizing customs procedures, and that both countries committed to "make concrete progress in the near term to include additional U.S. meat and poultry production facilities, streamline the issuance of digital export certificates, and work to facilitate increased shipments of U.S. agricultural equipment to Kazakhstan."

Trade talks between the U.S. and Argentina this week covered customs facilitation, lithium and copper, and agricultural concerns on both sides.

A summary of U.S. proposed text for a customs facilitation language in the Kenya-U.S. Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership says it is asking Kenya to publish all international trade information online, and to answer questions about trade without charging for the contact. It asks Kenya to maintain uniform procedures on advance rulings, and to provide appeals for customs administration issues. It asks Kenya to adopt a single window system for electronic forms and supporting documents, and to allow for immediate release of goods prior to a final determination of duties through customs bonds, and to accept electronic payment of duties.

The U.S. and Kenya committed to try to conclude the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment partnership by the end of the year, they said in a joint statement.