The Agriculture Transportation Coalition is urging U.S. exporters, before loading their containers, to confirm with ocean carriers that the cargo will reach their Chinese customers and will have proper refrigeration in case of delays at Chinese ports due to the coronavirus outbreak. The AgTC also said it is continuing to urge ocean carriers to refrain from imposing detention penalties on containers that are stuck at ports due to the virus containment measures in place (see 2002030034). “Within China, the supply chain has been compromised, starting at the China maritime terminals extending all the way to the ultimate inland destination points,” the AgTC said in a Feb. 11 emailed press release.
In the Feb. 7-12 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The U.S.-Japan mini-trade deal covers just 5 percent of trade between the partners, according to Bruce Hirsh, a principal at Tailwind, but he said the likelihood of further progress is small. Hirsh spoke while at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones legislative summit on Feb. 11. “Japan wasn’t interested in doing a bilateral deal at all, but they recognized there was only so long they could keep the U.S. at bay,” he said. He said that what Japan gave to the U.S. “fell a little bit short of TPP,” or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said beef and pork got TPP parity, but rice got nothing and “dairy got a lot, but not everything.”
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 7 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The Treasury released its 2020 National Illicit Finance Strategy on Feb. 6, detailing a “roadmap to modernize” its regimes for anti-money laundering regimes countering terrorism financing, the agency said. In the report, Treasury said money launderers and terrorist financers often try to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls on dual-use items, frequently trying to procure controlled U.S.-origin goods and technology.
The United Kingdom's Secretary of State of International Trade, Elizabeth Truss, told Parliament that the price the National Health Service pays for prescription drugs is not up for negotiation in free trade deals, and “we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.” She also added, according to her written statement, that “The UK will maintain its own autonomous sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regime to protect public, animal and plant life and health and the environment, reflecting its existing high standards.”
The legislative process for U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement approval “has just started in Canada” and the final ratification is expected to occur in March, said Joy Nott, a partner in KPMG's Canada Indirect Tax Practice, during a Feb. 5 webinar. “If it does happen at any point in the month of March,” the agreement would then come into force in July (see 2001300009), she said. “The one thing that is sort of up in the air is -- in Canada, it goes through a debate period, and we're not expecting any undue delays or whatever else, but like all politics, there is a debate period that as long as the debate is going on, it could drag the ratification into April,” she said. Still, ratification in March seems likely, she said.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade updated its guidance on trade agreements with non-European Union countries to clarify rules of origin requirements during the Brexit transition period, according to a Feb. 4 notice. The U.K. will still be “covered” by EU-third country trade agreements until the U.K. formally leaves the EU on Jan. 1, 2021, the notice said, meaning that U.K. content will continue to count toward rules of origin requirements in EU trade agreements. The U.K. is advising traders to contact their local trade office if they experience problems trading with non-EU countries due to confusion stemming from the rules of origin requirements. It is unclear whether some countries will honor U.K. goods as originating from the EU and may instead prefer to make their own determinations (see 2001220051).
Trump administration officials will meet this month in an attempt to resolve differences in the matter of restricting technology exports to China and Huawei, according to a Feb. 4 Reuters report. But Commerce is also discussing expanding its export control jurisdiction to a broader array of foreign sales containing U.S. goods that go beyond exports to just Huawei, according to a person familiar with the situation. “That is the one that would be a nuclear bomb for business,” the person said, adding that Commerce is discussing expanding its export control jurisdiction to “the maximum possible point.”
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters: