Senators on the Finance Committee agreed that deepening trade ties with countries in Asia is important both for geopolitical and economic reasons, but they disagreed during a March 15 hearing on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework about whether a traditional free-trade agreement is a better approach than the IPEF.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has started a large-scale industry outreach effort to ensure companies understand compliance requirements under the new Russian export controls, including direct talks with U.S. and foreign businesses and work on new guidance. The effort, previewed by BIS officials this week, underscores the significant export control and regulatory undertaking by the agency since late February, which has resulted in hundreds of pages of new Russian and Belarusian export restrictions.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week extended the public comment deadline for its pre-rule on new demurrage and detention billing requirements (see 2202070026 and 2202140002) by 30 days. Comments were originally due March 17, but industry will now have until April 16 to submit feedback. More than 30 trade groups had asked FMC earlier this month to extend the deadline (see 2203070006).
Ahead of a meeting with Chinese officials, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan publicly warned China that it will face severe penalties if it helps Russia evade Western sanctions. The Biden administration is “watching closely” to see whether Beijing provides Moscow with “material support or economic support,” Sullivan told CNN March 13, which could give Russia an economic lifeline as it faces crippling financial restrictions from Europe, the U.S. and many of its trading partners.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by a week a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced March 11. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15, 2021, but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until March 18.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to financial institutions to be vigilant against efforts to evade the sanctions and other restrictions implemented against Russia. FinCEN warned that all financial institutions identify and report suspicious activity associated with potential sanctions evasion, and conduct customer due diligence. The alert highlighted the following activities as possible evasion activities requiring higher scrutiny:
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports again postponed by a week a new surcharge meant to incentivize the movement of dwelling containers (see 2110280031), the two ports announced March 4. The ports originally planned to begin imposing the fee Nov. 15 but have postponed it each week since. The latest extension delays the effective date until March 11.
China's lack of worker rights, weak environmental standards "and anticompetitive subsidies are the hallmarks of China’s artificial comparative advantage. It is an advantage that puts others out of business and violates any notion of fair competition," the annual trade policy agenda from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said, and the administration is looking to advance fair competition "through all available avenues," including coordinating with other countries, using existing trade agreements, or new tools, it said.
New U.S. sanctions and export controls against Russia could present significant additional compliance and due diligence requirements for companies operating in the region and more trade restrictions are likely on the way, law firms said.
The EU's antidumping duty order on glass fiber fabrics (GFF) from China was being circumvented by imports of the subject merchandise consigned from Morocco by PGTEX Morocco SARL, the European Commission said Feb. 24. As a result, the commission extended the antidumping duty order on woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics from China to include these goods consigned from Morocco. The duties cover "fabrics of woven, and/or stitched continuous filament glass fibre rovings and/or yarns with or without other elements, excluding products which are impregnated or pre-impregnated (pre-preg), and excluding open mesh fabrics with cells with a size of more than 1,8 mm in both length and width and weighing more than 35 g/m2." The duty for the extended scope is the 69% antidumping duty rate applicable to "all other companies," and consigned GFF imports from Morocco, whether or not the goods originate in Morocco, are covered by the regulation.