The United Kingdom on Nov. 9 published a guidance on the country’s free trade agreement with Ukraine after the U.K. leaves the European Union. The guidance includes information on the trade relationship between the two countries, including tariff rates, rules of origin provisions and intellectual property provisions. The trade agreement is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2021.
The Canada government issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 6 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The United Kingdom updated multiple guidance documents for trade with foreign countries after the U.K. leaves the European Union Jan. 1, 2021. The updates, published Nov. 3, provide more information on import tariff rates and rules of origin for more than 20 countries.
The United Kingdom on Nov. 4 updated guidance and provided more information on its recently signed trade deal with Japan (see 2010260007). The new documents include explainers on agriculture and food trade, rules of origin and geographical indications.
A Chinese man pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export “maritime raiding craft” and engines to China, the Justice Department said Nov. 2. Shanghai Breeze Technology Co. Ltd. Chairman Ge Songtao also pleaded guilty to submitting false export information to the U.S. government. Ge faces a maximum 15-year prison sentence.
The U.S. and the United Kingdom recently completed their most “intensive” round of free trade agreement trade talks and said almost all negotiations are in advanced stages, the U.K. said Nov. 2. The most recent round -- held Oct. 19 to Oct. 30 -- included discussions on market access, product-specific rules of origin and customs. The two sides said they agreed to a “programme for continued talks at official level for the weeks following the U.S. election.” The Office of the U.S Trade Representative did not comment.
The Hong Kong ambassador to the World Trade Organization told the U.S. ambassador there that Hong Kong is initiating a dispute, and wants formal bilateral consultations on the U.S. decision to require goods made in Hong Kong to be marked 'Made in China.'
The Democrat who would lead the Finance Committee if the Senate majority changes parties after the election blasted President Donald Trump over labor, auto rules of origin, dairy and biotech export regulations, in a letter that said the benefits promised in renegotiating NAFTA have not been delivered. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in the Oct. 30 letter that “the Administration has yet to bring any enforcement action under either the state-to-state dispute settlement or the new Rapid Response Mechanism despite the persistence of labor violations in Mexico.”
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could potentially transform trade on the continent and bring it into global supply and value chains, but key parts of the deal remain unfinished, and infrastructure investment will be necessary to tap the agreement’s potential, panelists said on an Oct. 28 webinar hosted by law firm Squire Patton.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control amended and reissued its Yemen Sanctions regulations to include more guidance, general licenses and statements of licensing policy, OFAC said in a final rule released Oct. 28. The rule, which takes effect Oct. 29, provides a more “comprehensive” set of regulations aimed to “provide further guidance to the public.” The rule mainly adds clarifications, new definitions and specifies when certain transactions are authorized by general licenses. New general licenses now included in the regulations authorize certain transactions relating to “investment and reinvestment of certain funds, payments for legal services from funds originating outside the United States, and official activities of international organizations,” OFAC said.