A Japanese newspaper said that Japan and the U.S. have begun working on text for a free trade agreement. "The points of contention have become very clear and discussions have been progressing,” said Kazuhisa Shibuya, a senior policy coordinator at Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat, at a news conference following the talks, a report in The Japan Times said. He also said the two sides are talking about rules of origin, which suggests that the U.S. is entertaining tariff elimination on at least some industrial products, not just rescinding the automobile Section 232 threat in return for agricultural market access.
China’s expansion of its Shanghai Free Trade Zone could serve as a model for similar schemes in other zones across the country if it is successful, according to an Aug. 13 post from Dezan Shira & Associates. The recently approved plan includes "pioneering" policies in the newly incorporated Lingang area that are more than just a “simple expansion,” the post said. The expansion will double the size of the original Shanghai zone and will “facilitate freer activities in trade, investment, finance, talents, and information” in the new area of the zone, according to the post.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 5-9 in case they were missed.
In the Aug. 13 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security made several changes to its Entity List, adding, removing and modifying entries for companies in China, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, The United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and more. The changes add 17 entities to the list, modify 23 existing entries for China, Hong Kong and Russia, and remove three entities located in China and the UAE, BIS said in a notice. The changes take effect Aug. 14.
In the Aug. 9-12 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Vietnam Customs issued guidance on requirements for used machinery imports, the country’s customs mouthpiece, CustomsNews, said Aug. 11. The guidance includes additional information on which types of machinery imports are permitted, requirements for when a company must submit their business registration and a description of information that must be included in customs documents. Vietnam said it is also requiring customs import dossiers to include original certificates from the item’s manufacturer and the year it was manufactured. Vietnam banned certain imports of used machinery in June (see 1905030051).
A World Trade Organization arbitrator will review Korea's request to impose tariffs on $350 million worth of U.S. imports because Korea claims the U.S. did not comply with a WTO ruling on antidumping for oil country tubular goods (see 1711140008). The U.S. said Aug. 9 that the level of retaliation is too high. Korea lost most of its claims in the original 2014 case, and the Commerce Department said it complied with the findings regarding profit determinations.
Tariff negotiations among members of the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement are scheduled to conclude by January 2020, with duty reductions under the agreement to take effect in July next year, according to a report in the Namibian newspaper New Era. Signatories of the agreement, which entered into force at the end of May, have agreed that 90 percent of tariffs will be eliminated, while another 7 percent may be designated as sensitive and 3 percent may be excluded from liberalization. Namibian International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told New Era that negotiations on tariff reductions on the sensitive list are due to the African Union Commission for approval in January. “She noted that trading and tariff dismantling under the AfCFTA is to commence in July 2020, and member states are expected to conclude outstanding rules of origin negotiation,” the report said.
Vietnam Customs recently issued guidance to its provincial departments on validation of certificates of origin under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), according to an Aug. 8 report in CustomsNews mouthpiece. The guidance includes some additional criteria for each of the nine minimum data elements required for CPTPP certificates of origin under Annex 3-B of the agreement.