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.
The World Trade Organization's 12th Ministerial Conference has been set has been set for the week of June 13 in Geneva, the WTO said Feb. 23. Following Switzerland's easing of COVID-19 restrictions, WTO members at a meeting of the General Council decided to reschedule the ministerial, which had already been rescheduled to begin at the end of November 2021. Originally the conference was to be held in June 2020 in Kazakhstan. MC12 is seen as a key summit for the resolution of many issues in international trade, including the WTO Appellate Body and fishery subsidies.
The European Commission accepted a request from Chinese exporter Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics to be granted new exporting product treatment, subjecting the company to a 17.9% antidumping duty rate. The request regarded antidumping duties on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China. Following an analysis, the commission said that the exporter met all three of the conditions for this status. Jewelmoon didn't export the subject merchandise during the investigation period, isn't related to any exporters subject to the ADD measures and exported the product to the EU after the original investigation period. Therefore Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics was added to the annex listing the cooperating companies not included in the sample for determing the ADD rates in the original subject dumping investigation.
India removed its 10% Agriculture Infrastructure Development tax on lentils effective Feb. 12, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report. Alongside the removal of import tariffs on lentils in 2021 for all countries except the U.S. (see 2108030034), the elimination of the tax means the effective tariff rate on non-U.S. lentil imports into India is now zero percent. The import duty for U.S. origin lentils was lowered from 33% to 22% “after accounting for the existing basic duty and social welfare surcharge,” the report said. India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry also announced Feb. 11 that it's moving imports of mung beans “from the freely importable category to the restricted category with immediate effect,” USDA said.
The EU and the U.K. announced another round of sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Building off a first wave of restrictions imposed on Russia following troop movement into the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, they either added or announced a series of individuals and entities that will be subject to greater restrictions. The EU said it plans to impose grand sectoral sanctions against Russia, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the U.K. will impose asset freezes on over 100 new entities and individuals.