The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule to reflect the United Arab Emirates formally ending its participation in the Arab League Boycott of Israel. Under the rule, effective June 8, certain “requests for information, action or agreement from the UAE” will not be “presumed to be boycott-related” -- and therefore not restricted or reportable under the Export Administration Regulations -- if they were made before Aug. 16, 2020, BIS said.
Country of origin cases
Current geopolitical issues, deteriorating relations and COVID-19 are making it “impossible” to continue relying on China, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, a new report from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry detailed. The group surveyed 189 Australian exporters and businesses, finding the difficulties with Chinese trade especially pronounced for small wine exporters. The problems stemming from the raising of tariff and non-tariff barriers by the Chinese government has made customer relationships incredibly difficult and “resulted in a complete cessation of trade.”
The European Union ambassadors to the European Council agreed to the terms of a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament to create an International Procurement Instrument, the council announced in a June 2 news release. The IPI will work to open third countries' procurement markets and “ensure access and a level playing field to EU businesses in those markets.” The IPI would allow the EU to block access to its public procurement markets case by case without affecting existing EU commitments via the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and free trade agreements.
The European Commission initiated an investigation into the alleged circumvention of the countervailing duty measures on imports of certain woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics originating in China and Egypt but consigned from Morocco, “whether declared as originating in Morocco or not,” the commission said in a May 31 notice. Under review for circumvention are “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 preimpregnated (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/m.” Interested parties may make written submissions via TRON.tdi within 37 days from the date of the publication notice.
Trade and business relations between the European Union and China will likely grow more challenging in the wake of the EU’s decision to pause ratification of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (see 2105240023), a European policy expert said. Even so, China will likely push the EU to move forward on the deal, another expert said, as it doesn’t want a series of escalating sanctions by the two sides to continue.
The U.S. and Iran will likely come to an agreement on the Iran nuclear deal as early as this summer, which could lift a range of economic sanctions on Iran, two foreign policy experts said. Although talks between the two sides have progressed over the past several weeks, the experts say it remains unclear how the sanctions will be lifted and whether a more comprehensive, revised deal will follow.
The European Commission is partially reopening an antidumping investigation into woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics originating in China and Egypt to determine whether the antidumping duties apply to the subject products being brought in significant quantities to "an artificial island, a fixed or floating installation or any other structure in the continental shelf of a Member State or the exclusive economic zone [CS/EEZ] declared by a Member State pursuant" to the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. The EU received sufficient evidence to show that the glass fiber fabrics were being brought in to the bloc to be processed into wind blades, then exported to offshore wind parks in the CS/EEZ, a process that would injure European Union industry, the EU said May 27. The reopening of the investigation will finish within 13 months, and written comments on the reopening can be submitted to the EU for the next 20 days.
The European Union is dropping the anti-subsidy investigation into imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron and non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Turkey, the bloc announced in a May 27 decision. The original petitioner, the European Steel Association, withdrew its complaint against the products. The investigation, which began June 12, 2020, is ending without any anti-subsidy measures, the EU said, noting the probe “did not bring to light any considerations showing that a continuation of the case would be in the Union interest.”
Export controls over 3D-printed guns were moved from the Commerce Department to the State Department following a court’s decision this week to officially waive a preliminary injunction that had blocked the transfer (see 2105030021).
The United Kingdom's Department for International Trade launched a review of ongoing tariff measures against the U.S., which originally sought to respond to the Section 232 tariffs on British steel and aluminum. The U.K. wants to tailor any future response to the American tariffs to “UK interests,” a May 24 news release said. The consultation closes July 5, the agency said. In response to the Section 232 action, the U.K. instituted restrictive measures against trade in products such as whiskey, motorcycles and tobacco, but may be considering a change to “deescalate trade tensions,” it said.