One of the obligations Canada and Mexico agreed to in the NAFTA rewrite is a ban on goods made with forced labor, but Baker McKenzie lawyers said it's not clear how much things are changing in that regard. Paul Burns, a Baker McKenzie partner in Toronto, said that while Canada has changed its law to ban the importation of goods made with forced labor, the Canadian customs agency does not disclose information about its enforcement. "We don’t know if there have been any detentions made," he said. "I expect there hasn't been."
The U.S. updated its Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory, highlighting the increasing supply chain, sanctions, labor and export control risks of doing business in the Xinjiang region. The July 13 update, which builds and expands on the original advisory issued last year (see 2007010040), says China is committing genocide through its human rights violations against Muslim minorities, provides guidance to businesses that may invest in implicated Chinese companies, updates a list of U.S. enforcement actions related to Xinjiang and "strengthens" recommendations for companies that risk doing business in the region.
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft proposals for funding the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It wants to spend $577.4 million on the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration, $36.4 million more than the current fiscal year's spending, a 6.7% increase. It wants to spend $143.4 million on the Bureau of Industry and Security, up $10.4 million from the current year, a 7.8% increase.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order July 9 that calls for the Federal Maritime Commission to "consider further rulemaking to improve detention and demurrage practices and enforcement of related Shipping Act prohibitions." The FMC should also "vigorously enforce the prohibition of unjust and unreasonable practices in the context of detention and demurrage" and request recommendations on the subject from the National Shipper Advisory Committee. The EO also suggests that the U.S. Department of Agriculture "consider initiating a rulemaking to define the conditions under which the labeling of meat products can bear voluntary statements indicating that the product is of United States origin, such as 'Product of USA.'” The EO addresses a wide range of issues meant to improve and promote competition in the U.S. economy, the White House said in a fact sheet.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 34 entities under 43 entries to Entity List, BIS said in a final rule. Fourteen of those entities are based in China and “have enabled Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions of China (XUAR), where the PRC continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity,” the Commerce Department said in a news release. Another five of the entities were “directly supporting PRC’s military modernization programs related to lasers and C4ISR programs, Commerce said.
Saudi Arabia recently issued rules for determining the origin of imported goods, KPMG said July 6. The rules, which took effect July 2, “reiterate” the Gulf Cooperation Council origin conditions and also require a minimum 25% nationalization threshold “with respect” to the entity that manufactures the GCC-origin goods, KPMG said. Saudi Arabia also will treat goods manufactured by free-zone businesses as foreign goods even if those goods include raw materials of GCC origin. KPMG said the rules “appear to exclude any duty-exemption benefit to free zone businesses.” The rules also include more information about the definition for “direct consignment.”
Former U.S. trade officials are optimistic the Biden administration can revitalize a mini trade deal with India that was originally proposed under the Trump administration (see 2009010049). But they also said U.S. officials will likely look to add more provisions to any deal, including ones that address labor and climate issues.
The United Kingdom lifted antidumping duties on welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel from Belarus or Russia, a July 1 notice said. Certain antidumping duties originating from an AD quota on certain welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel from Belarus, China and Russia along with a tariff rate quota on steel goods will be suspended under the notice. The announcement includes a list of affected companies from Russia that will see their antidumping rate drop to zero. All affected tube and pipe exporters from Belarus will have their antidumping rate drop from 38.1% to 13.1%.
The European Commission amended its common rules for imports from certain third countries relating to volumes of tariff rate quotas in a July 5 implementing regulation. Country-specific and residual TRQs were incorrectly published in the original regulation, prompting the fix from the commission, the notice said. The notice lists TRQ volumes of metallic-coated sheets from Korea, India, the United Kingdom, China, India and other countries.
The United Kingdom suspended antidumping duties on cold-rolled flat steel goods from Russia, a July 1 notice said. The suspended duties originate from a general antidumping duty order on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from China and Russia and a tariff rate quota on steel goods. The notice includes a list of affected exporters and their now-lowered rates. All other exporters of the subject merchandise from Russia will see their antidumping duty rates fall from 36.1% to 11.1%.