Huawei is urging suppliers to move operations offshore to avoid U.S. sanctions and export controls, which would violate U.S. law, according to a Dec. 3 Reuters report. The Chinese technology giant has been “openly advocating” for companies to escape the jurisdiction of U.S. controls so sales can continue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Reuters. “Anybody who does move the product out specifically to avoid the sanction ... that’s a violation of U.S. law,” Ross said. “So here you have Huawei encouraging American suppliers to violate the law.”
Two Russian nationals, two Italian nationals, a U.S. citizen and three companies were charged in a conspiracy to evade international trade sanctions, including violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Control Reform Act, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 3 press release. The conspiracy involved an attempted $17.3 million purchase of a Vectra 40G power turbine and attempts at wire fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department said.
A Lebanese energy equipment company was fined $368,000 by the Bureau of Industry and Security after it illegally re-exported generators to Syria, according to a settlement agreement signed Nov. 27. Ghaddar Machinery allegedly committed 20 violations of the Export Administration Regulations from 2014 to 2016, totaling about $730,000 worth of exports, BIS said. Ghaddar agreed to pay the penalty in five installments through November 2021. Failure to make the payments could result in more penalties, according to the settlement agreement, including a two-year denial of export privileges.
Switzerland is “absolutely convinced” it needs a free trade agreement with the U.S., which could benefit U.S. agricultural exporters, a Switzerland ambassador and Switzerland trade expert said during a Dec. 3 Heritage Foundation panel. But a deal may be unlikely, particularly because Switzerland faces the difficult decision of accepting U.S. agricultural safety standards over those of the European Union, a trade expert said. That decision presents a significant barrier to a potential trade deal.
In the Nov. 25 - Dec. 2 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
The European Commission referred Denmark to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to comply with European Union law regulating illegal cheese exports, the commission said in a Nov. 26 press release. Companies based in Denmark are producing and exporting “white cheese” to non-EU countries after labeling it with “Feta,” the commission said, which violates EU law. Feta is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and can only be produced in Greece, the commission said. The action is a “direct breach” of the protected designation and “Danish authorities have failed to prevent or stop it,” the commission said. The actions also may endanger “ongoing negotiations” between the EU and third countries surrounding trade deals that ensure protection of EU PDOs.
Although the U.S. trade representative found a way to avoid a congressional vote on a U.S.-Japan trade deal by limiting the size of the initial U.S. tariff reductions, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee are questioning whether the deal is allowed under the fast-track law. A letter sent Nov. 26, led by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and signed by every Democrat on the committee except the chairman and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., did not explicitly say that Democrats believe the law is not being followed, but repeatedly asked under what authority the agreement was reached. Among the specific issues raised were rules of origin or marking rules and whether there would be changes. The letter also asked if there is such a provision, why wasn't it mentioned in the notification to Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats “are within range” of agreeing on a new NAFTA, adding that “we need to see our progress in writing from the Trade Representative for final review.” Pelosi released the statement in the evening of Nov. 25. She said that the original draft of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that USTR reached with Canada and Mexico “still left American workers exposed to losing their jobs to Mexico, included unacceptable provisions to lock in high prescription drug prices, and fell short of key environmental standards,” but most of all, it had no concrete enforcement mechanisms. If Pelosi reaches agreement with USTR, the next step will be a draft implementing bill from USTR, and mock markups in the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee to shape the final bill.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Corporacion Panamericana, a Cuban company controlled by U.S.-sanctioned Cubametales, Treasury said Nov. 26. Since it was sanctioned, Cubametales has offered Corporacion Panamericana as an intermediary to companies who decline to do business with Cubametales.