Indonesia will ban nickel exports beginning Jan. 1, 2020, instead of the originally proposed date in 2022, according to a Sept. 17 blog post by Baker McKenzie. The ban, announced by the country’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, will “apply to all different types of nickel” and not “just nickel ore with certain percentages,” the post said. The ban is expected to be cleared by Indonesia’s Ministry of Law and Human Rights before taking effect, the post said.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will increase sanctions on Iran after his administration suggested Iran was behind an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities.
China issued guidance for its free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the rules of origin for imports and exports, according to a Sept. 11 KPMG alert.
The State Department issued a notice correcting the effective date of sanctions announced in July against a Chinese state-owned oil company and its director. The sanctions, imposed against Zhuhai Zhenrong and director Youmin Li, took effect July 22, changing the original effective date of Sept. 16, the State Department said. The company was sanctioned for buying oil from Iran (see 1908150040).
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 9 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The U.S. trade representative and India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal have been talking on the phone, with the goal of trading a return to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program for better agricultural access, according to two sources following the trade talks. The original industry complaints about market access filed with USTR, requesting that India be expelled from GSP privileges were from the medical device industry and from the dairy industry. A lawyer following the trade talks said that "there's talk -- and this is still a very contentious issue" -- that the pricing controls on medical devices, such as stents, would be changed in India.
Vietnam continues efforts to crack down on the country of origin fraud and transshipment schemes that have become especially more frequent since the ramping up of U.S.-China trade tensions, according to reports in CustomsNews, the self-described “mouthpiece” of Vietnam Customs.
Various promotional items imported by Bic Graphic that are labeled in the U.S. before export to NAFTA countries are considered as in the "same condition” for purposes of the NAFTA limitation on drawback, CBP said in an Aug. 12 ruling. CBP said in HQ H292472 the multiple labeling methods involved don't result in a change in condition and also may still be considered "unused." Mallory Alexander International Logistics requested the ruling on behalf of Bic Graphic.
The World Customs Organization issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on a shipping network that moves hundreds of millions of dollars of oil for Iran, Treasury said in a Sept. 4 press release. The network includes dozens of ship managers, ships and “facilitators” overseen by Rostam Qasemi, a senior Iranian military official and the country’s former minister of petroleum. The sanctions target 16 entities, 10 people and 11 ships.