The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its 2022 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, detailing the most significant foreign market access issues facing U.S. exporters. The report examines a range of import policies, tariffs, customs procedures and phytosanitary measures that are restricting U.S. goods, including China’s new “opaque and burdensome” facility registration requirements.
The U.K. amended one entry under its Russia sanctions regime and removed another, in a March 30 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listing for Sergey Pavlovich Ivanov, changing his middle name from Borisovich to Pavlovich. OFSI also dropped a duplicate of the listing for Aleksander Aleksandrovich Mikheev. It said the original listing for Mikheev continues to apply and is still subject to an asset freeze.
U.S. export controls against Russia have proven to be effective more quickly than expected, said Thea Kendler, the Bureau of Industry and Security's assistant secretary for export administration. While the U.S. restrictions have hit key Russian industrial and defense inputs, Kendler said a major reason behind their success has been the substantial buy-in from allies in Europe and Asia.
During a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee March 30, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was asked by many Republicans and a few Democrats why the administration has ruled out cutting tariffs to convince negotiating partners in Asia to open their markets, and why it has shied away from continuing free trade agreement negotiations started during the previous administration.
The U.S. can take several steps to increase its export control pressure against Russia, including expanding certain restrictions to capture a wider range of end-users in Russia beyond the military, said Matt Borman, a senior official at the Bureau of Industry and Security. Borman also stressed that Chinese companies on the Entity List still have much to lose if they aid Russia, including a complete ban from U.S. exports, financing and other services.
The U.K. released guidance to help traders navigate the additional duties placed on a number of goods originating in Russia and Belarus. So far, the U.K. has imposed an additional 35% duty on a host of products from these countries and it intends to implement more duties on fish from Russia and Belarus. The Department for International Trade's guidance walks traders through exemptions from additional duties that apply to goods from Russia and Belarus that have completed export formalities and left the countries before March 25.
The U.K. added Iceland to its list of permitted destinations under its open general export license for dual-use items. In another notice concerning the OGEL for printed circuit boards and components for dual-use goods, the Department for International Trade announced it's now requiring registration before first use of the license. In a notice concerning the OGELs for the export of military goods brought into the U.K. for repairs, the DIT said it now permits those items to be reexported after repairs in the U.K. or the country of original manufacture.
The U.S. and Japan will raise the beef safeguard trigger level under the two countries’ trade deal, reducing the possibility that U.S. beef exporters will face higher tariffs when shipping to Japan, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said March 24. The deal now requires three separate triggers to be met before Japan can raise tariffs on imports of U.S. beef, giving U.S. exporters more “certainty” when trading with Japan, a senior USTR official said.
U.K. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan will be "calling in" the Trade Remedies Authority's recommendation relating to British steel safeguard measures, the Department for International Trade said. By doing so, the secretary now decides whether to vary, maintain or revoke the measures, taking into account the TRA's findings. In June 2021, the TRA recommended extending the safeguard measures on 10 product categories for three years and revoking the measures on nine product categories. She accepted the recommendation, also providing for a 12-month extension of the current protections for five of the nine product categories originally floated for revocation.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., on March 21 expressed optimism that Congress can begin conference negotiations on its China package before the end of the work period, as planned by Senate leadership (see 2203170075).