Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius told reporters that Mercedes-Benz's transition plan for auto rules of origin under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will take three or four years. Kallenius, who was responding to a question from International Trade Today after a Q&A at the Washington Economic Club Jan. 10, did not say explicitly that the carmaker would be applying for the extension, which would require the company to show how Alabama production -- not just Mexican production at its joint venture with Nissan -- will meet the tougher standards. If it will take Mercedes four years to meet the standard, they would need an extension.
The Senate Finance Committee has recommended the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement come up for a vote in the Senate as a whole, voting 25-3 Jan. 7 to advance the deal. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that the USMCA implementing bill also has to get buy-in from the Budget, Environment and Commerce committees, though they don't have to hold mark-up hearings, as the Finance Committee did. He predicted that if the articles of impeachment aren't sent over to the Senate yet, “by next week, for sure,” there would be a floor vote, but if the articles arrive, he said, it could be the end of January before a vote.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a series of frequently asked questions on Jan. 6 as part of guidance related to U.S. people exporting defense services abroad. The guidance clarifies questions related to registration and authorization requirements and details the process for obtaining authorization.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Jan. 6 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The European Commission recently added Mongolia to its list of countries under the European Union’s registered exporter system, according to a Jan. 3 KPMG post. The change allows Mongolia to participate in the EU’s system of certification of origin of goods that applies in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, according to the commission.
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru recently agreed to unified labeling requirements for certain apparel, textiles, footwear, leather and travel goods to ease compliance with labeling regulations for exporters in Hong Kong, China and elsewhere, according to a Dec. 31 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The new labeling requirements will take effect for footwear, leather and travel goods in November and for apparel in May 2021, the report said. The apparel labeling regulations require “product composition, care instructions and country of origin” to be placed on a “permanent label.” The labels for footwear, leather and travel goods must also contain certain materials disclosures, the report said.
An upgraded economic partnership between Singapore and New Zealand takes effect Jan. 1, changing rules-of-origin procedures, updating documentation for preferential tariff treatment and more, Singapore Customs said in a notice released Dec. 31. The updated agreement changes the requirement that all manufactured goods have to contain at least 40 percent content originating from Singapore or New Zealand and introduces a new formula to determine whether a good qualifies as originating. And while companies can continue to “operate on a self-certification basis” to qualify for preferential tariffs, the agreement adds new entities that can issue certifications “attesting to the origin of the good besides the manufacturer,” Singapore said. The notice also contains a table describing each of the deal’s changes and which members of the supply chain they will impact.
In the Dec. 30 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
More than half of the sanctions-related enforcement actions issued by the Treasury Department in 2019 involved supply chain violations, signaling that supply chain compliance is one of the most important factors in avoiding violations, according to a December report released by Kharon, a sanctions advisory firm. The penalties are mostly due to deficiencies in three main areas of supply chain compliance, Kharon said: companies that operated in “heightened-risk jurisdictions,” companies that operated “existing and newly acquired” foreign subsidiaries, and companies that showed deficiencies while monitoring actors in its supply chain.
In the Dec. 23 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: