The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its analogues in Canada and Mexico asked the three countries' leaders to work on "a quick resolution" of disputes over Mexican energy policies, Canadian dairy tariff-rate quotas and the U.S. position on the auto rules of origin.
Colombia recently raised its most favored nation duties on imports of certain apparel items, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Jan. 6. The change will apply a 40% duty on apparel goods listed in Harmonized System chapters 61 and 62 but will not apply to certain items that were en route to Colombia prior to Jan. 7, the report said. The new duties are primarily aimed at mainland China and won’t affect apparel that qualifies for preferential duty treatment under a free trade deal or another arrangement, the report said, including apparel originating in the U.S. or the EU.
Ahead of a meeting of the "Three Amigos" -- the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico and the prime minister of Canada -- Jan. 9-10, business groups that advocate for North American integration said during a Jan. 6 webinar that they're hoping to see more evidence of nearshoring and using North American resources to diversify away from China.
A revision to U.S. export regulations included in the fiscal year 2023 defense spending bill could lead to new end-use screening obligations for U.S. people and companies operating abroad, Akin Gump said in a Jan. 5 client alert. Although it remains unclear how and when the Bureau of Industry and Security will implement the change, the law firm said it could lead to new restrictions on activities that support foreign military, security or intelligence services even if the activity doesn’t involve technology subject to the Export Administration Regulations.
The Commerce Department’s fall 2022 regulatory agenda for the Census Bureau, released this week, mentions a final rule that would add a new “country of origin” data element in the Automated Export System. Census proposed the new element last year, which could require U.S. exporters of foreign-produced goods to declare the country of origin for their item through the “conditional” data element in AES (see 2112140033). Census said it hopes to publish the new requirement, if it's finalized, in June. The final rule also “would make remedial changes to the [Foreign Trade Regulations] to improve clarity and to correct errors,” Census said.
The U.K. Dec. 30 revoked 26 open general licenses, all of which were originally made to be used in parallel with licenses that had been "locked against further registration," the Department for International Trade announced. The original licenses were unlocked Sept. 30, making the parallel licenses redundant. The parallel licenses covered a range of goods, including chemicals, military items, energy products and dual-use goods.
China imposed national food safety standard inspection requirements for imports of infant formula food, processed cheese and other dairy products, the General Administration of Customs announced, according to an unofficial translation. The move comes after China imposed a new national standard for these products. The customs agency said that goods made and imported before the implementation date of the new national standard but that comply with the original standard can continue to be imported and sold within the warranty period. The domestic consignee of the imported goods must fill in the "production date" when declaring the affected products.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week issued preliminary guidance on the implementation of the price cap for Russian-origin petroleum products, outlining how it will apply restrictions to articles defined by Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. heading 2710. The price cap will work in a similar manner to the crude oil cap, where participating countries will ban "a broad range" of maritime transport services if they support shipping Russian petroleum products over a predetermined cap.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week fined a multinational Danish-based refrigeration manufacturer more than $4.3 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan. Danfoss, which also sells air conditioners and other cooling and heating products, illegally directed customers in all three countries to make payments through a U.S. financial institution, OFAC said in an enforcement notice. The company also made illegal payments to entities in Iran and Syria.
The Census Bureau will soon deploy a new informational message in the Automated Export System to alert exporters when the U.S. Principal Party in Interest address state field and state of origin field don’t match. The message will be “active in the Certification testing environment” on Jan. 10 and “will go into the Production environment” on Feb. 7, Census said in a Dec. 22 email to industry. The message, which will appear as response code 26C, “will allow the filer to take notice of the USPPI Address and State of Origin fields being reported on the [Electronic Export Information] in the AES when the data elements do not match and make changes.” CBP on Dec. 22 updated its response message guidance with the new code.