Hong Kong is advising importers of U.S.-origin goods to check with their sellers about possible trade interruptions after the Bureau of Industry and Security increased restrictions on exports to the region. Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department will work with “the licensees concerned to cancel the relevant unused licences,” the agency said July 2. “Otherwise, traders might risk themselves violating the relevant U.S. laws and regulations.”
Country of origin cases
Testimony by Liz Truss, the United Kingdom's international trade secretary, revealed that no chapters have been closed yet in negotiations with the U.S., and suggests that barriers to U.S. exports of poultry and beef and price controls on pharmaceutical drugs continue to be sensitive areas for the British. Truss was updating Parliament about the second round of negotiations on a free trade agreement with the U.S.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of July 1 (some may also be given separate headlines):
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, asked White House trade adviser Peter Navarro to answer a series of questions related to former National Security Adviser John Bolton's assertion that President Donald Trump pleaded with China's president to buy more soybeans and wheat, so Trump could win re-election. He asked him to confirm the claim, and to say whether he was in all the meetings between Trump and the Chinese president that Bolton described. He asked for the answers by July 14.
In calls hosted by CBP on the last day of NAFTA, and the first day of USMCA, trade professionals were anxious to understand what they should change in paperwork.
The European Council renewed sectoral sanctions against Russia for six months until Jan. 31, 2021, the council said June 29. The sanctions limit Russian banks’ access to the European Union market, block trade in defense and dual-use goods, and restrict the sale to Russia of sensitive technologies that can be used in its energy sector. The restrictions were originally introduced in 2014 in response to Russia’s actions to destabilize Ukraine.
The Trump administration issued an advisory for companies doing business with China’s Xinjiang region, which could expose companies to sanctions, export controls and forced labor risks. In a 19-page guidance issued July 1, the departments of State, Commerce, the Treasury and Homeland Security describe supply chain risks and possible sanctions exposure for companies trading with the region, and includes suggested due diligence practices. The guidance comes less than a month after President Donald Trump authorized sanctions against Chinese officials for human rights violations against the country’s Uighur population in the Xinjiang region (see 2006170064).
CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner for Trade Brenda Smith told reporters June 30 that CBP staffers “are very well-prepared to implement the agreement” that takes over from NAFTA at midnight.
Mexican companies may struggle to comply with U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement provisions due to uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and confusion about certificate of origin provisions, two former Mexican government officials said. Some Mexican businesses may opt to forgo the preferential treatment under USMCA, which takes effect July 1, and instead pay most favored nation rates on imports until they better understand the agreement’s provisions, the former officials said.
A Canadian woman was sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegally exporting gas turbine engine parts from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said June 26. Angelica Preti, who worked as the export operations manager at a Canadian forwarding and customs brokerage services provider, helped to ship U.S.-origin engine parts and valve assemblies to Iran by concealing Iran as the end-user, the agency said. She also filed false electronic export information. During Preti’s time as export manager, the company was involved in 23 shipments exported from the U.S. traced to Iran destinations. DOJ said Preti violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and U.S. sanctions.