The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 385-41. The implementing legislation will be taken up by the Senate in the new year. If the impeachment trial begins in early January, it is expected to wait until that trial is over.

This was the biggest vote for a free trade deal in the House since the Canada Free Trade agreement in 1988, which had 366 yes votes. Only Jordan and Israel trade deals had more support.

The United Kingdom is now set to leave the European Union on Jan. 31 under the terms of a recently re-negotiated transition deal, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a resounding victory in elections held Dec. 12. Now holding a 365-seat majority to Labour’s 203 seats and the Scottish National Party’s 48, Johnson plans to hold a vote Dec. 20 on his Brexit deal, which is likely to pass, according to reports from the BBC and The Guardian.

The decisive result ends a long period of uncertainty caused by Conservatives’ previously slim margin in Parliament. A victory by Labour and their allies would have led to a second referendum, while a “hung parliament” with no clear majority could have caused a no-deal Brexit if the Jan. 31 deadline passed without either approval of the transition deal or another extension.

Assuming the transition deal is passed, work will then begin between U.K. and EU negotiators to come up with a permanent framework for their future relationship. Johnson has pledged to have that permanent agreement in place by the beginning of 2021, though the transition deal can be extended until the end of 2021 or 2022, and agreeing on a permanent solution within a year may prove difficult if talks on the transition deal were any indication.

For now, the U.K.’s insistence on ending the transition agreement by the end of 2020 carries some risk of leaving before a new trade deal can come into force, and also may limit the scope of what can be agreed,” according to a post on Herbert Smith Freehills’ Brexit Notes blog. But for now, “EU law will continue to apply in the UK until the end of the transition period and immediate changes associated with leaving will be small and, if they occur, more likely to affect UK trade with very few third countries than with the EU.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal announced that they have reached a deal with the Trump administration on changes to the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. They called the changes they won over the last six months a victory for workers. They did not share many details of how the environmental, labor, enforcement and biologics provisions changed, but said the text would be shared before votes in the House of Representatives.

The Commerce Department renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and 114 of its non-U.S. affiliates until Feb. 16. The renewal is effective immediately and is the license’s second extension since it was issued in May. The license authorizes certain specific activities and transactions, including those related to existing network operations of mobile services, despite Huawei's addition to the Entity List.

President Donald Trump said he will soon authorize “powerful” sanctions against Turkey for its recent military actions in Syria. The sanctions will target former and current Turkish government officials and anyone contributing to Turkey’s actions, Trump said, adding that the U.S. will also “immediately stop” negotiating a trade deal with Turkey.

Specifically, the sanctions will target those involved in “human rights abuses, obstructing a ceasefire, preventing displaced persons from returning home, forcibly repatriating refugees, or threatening the peace, security, or stability in Syria.” Trump will authorize the sanctions in an upcoming executive order first announced by the Treasury Department on Oct. 11.

Japan will eliminate or reduce tariffs on $7.2 billion of U.S. food and agriculture exports under a mini-deal with the country that the administration says replicates the agricultural access the U.S. would have received if it had joined the Trans Pacific Partnership. The U.S. Trade Representative announced the deal without saying when the agreement will come into effect. It does not require a vote of Congress to be ratified.

Tariffs will be eliminated immediately on $1.3 billion worth of exports, including almonds, blueberries, cranberries, sweet corn, sorghum, broccoli, prunes and food supplements. There will be gradual tariff elimination on $3 billion worth of exports, including wine, cheese and whey, ethanol, frozen poultry, processed pork, fresh cherries, oranges, frozen potatoes, beef offal, tomato paste and egg products. There will be gradual reduced tariffs on fresh and frozen beef and fresh and frozen pork. Japan will be able to apply safeguards if there are import surges of beef, pork, whey, oranges and race horses, but they will be phased out. The U.S. will also receive a tariff rate quota for wheat, malt, glucose, fructose, inulin, corn starch and potato starch.

China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council will add agricultural products such as soybeans and pork to its list of tariff exemptions of U.S. goods, according to a report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. China also said it “supports" companies buying a “certain amount of U.S. farm produce” but did not specify the amount, according to the report.

"China has a huge market, and the prospects for importing high-quality U.S. farm produce are broad," the report said. China announced some other tariff exemptions earlier this week.

China released the first batch of tariff exemptions for U.S. goods, which include exemptions for shrimp, fish meal, lubricants and more, according to an unofficial translation of a Ministry of Finance press release. The exemptions will take effect Sept. 17 and last until Sept. 16, 2020, China said. China said it will publish more exemptions in “due course.”

China will impose tariffs on about $75 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for the coming 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods, China’s State Council said, according to an unofficial translation. China said it will impose either 10 percent or 5 percent tariffs on more than 5,000 U.S. products. The tariffs will be imposed in two separate batches on Sep. 1 and Dec. 15, China said.

The State Council also said it is imposing 25 percent tariffs on cars, as well as 5 percent tariffs on auto parts, beginning Dec. 15. China had announced it would temporarily suspend those additional tariffs as of Jan. 1 as a gesture of good faith in negotiations with the U.S., and had extended the suspension on April 1.

The Bureau of Industry and Security renewed the temporary general license for Huawei and added 46 more of Huawei’s non-U.S. affiliates to the Entity List. The changes, which take effect Aug. 19, extend the general license’s expiration date from Aug. 19 to Nov. 18 and make several other technical changes to entries on the Entity List, including adding new aliases and addresses.

The export restrictions will continue to apply to all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and BIS will continue its review policy of presumption of denial. All exports affected by the addition of the 46 Huawei entities may continue to their destination if they were en route on or before Aug. 19, BIS said.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “not going to do business with Huawei” despite Commerce officials telling U.S. companies in July the agency was planning to be more lenient on Huawei-related export license applications. “We’re not going to do business with Huawei. We’re not doing business with them. And I really made the decision," Trump said while speaking to reporters Aug. 9. "It's much simpler not to do any business with Huawei, so we're not doing business with Huawei."

But Trump left open the possibility of the U.S. lifting restrictions on Huawei if the U.S. reaches a trade deal with China. “We’re not doing business with Huawei, but that doesn't mean we won't agree to something if and when we make a trade deal,” he said.

China is suspending purchases of U.S. agricultural products in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to impose an additional 10-percent tariff on Chinese imports, according to an unofficial translation of a press release from China's Ministry of Commerce. China, calling Trump’s move a “serious violation” of negotiations, also said it is not ruling out imposing new import tariffs on “newly purchased” U.S. agricultural products. China said it has a “large market capacity” for U.S. agricultural goods and said it hopes the U.S. “will conscientiously implement the consensus reached” during the two sides’ last meeting.

The move stems from Trump’s Aug. 1 tweet that the U.S. would be imposing additional tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods on Sept. 1. China later promised to retaliate (see 1908020019).

China said it “strongly opposes” President Donald Trump's decision to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods and it will respond with “necessary measures,” according to an unofficial translation of an Aug. 2 statement from the Ministry of Commerce spokesperson.

China said the move is a “serious violation of the consensus” reached between the two sides at the G-20 Summit and “deviates from the correct track and is not conducive to solving the problem.” China also said the tariffs will “have a declining impact” on the world’s economy. "If the US imposes tariff measures and implements them, China will have to take necessary counter-measures to resolutely defend the core interests of the country and the fundamental interests of the people. All the consequences will be borne by the US."

The spokesperson said “it is hoped that the US will correct its mistakes in a timely manner, solve problems on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and return to the right track.”

President Donald Trump said he won't lift current U.S. tariffs, but also won't add tariffs on any more Chinese imports "for at least the time being." He said during a press conference at the G20 Summit in Japan that negotiations will resume "where we left off to see if we can make a deal."

Trump said while the issues around Huawei will have to be saved "for the very end," U.S. companies will be allowed to sell to Huawei in the meantime. And Trump said China is going to start buying farm products almost immediately. "We're going to give them lists of things we would like them to buy."

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added five Chinese computing companies to its Entity List, requiring licenses for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations with a review policy of presumption of denial. The entities are: Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit, Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, Higon, Sugon and Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology.

Commerce also modified an existing entry to China’s National University of Defense Technology to include one alias (Hunan Guofang Keji University) and four updated locations. The changes take effect June 24. All shipments now requiring a license as a result of this announcement that were aboard a carrier to a port as of that date may proceed to its destination under the previous eligibility for license exception.

President Donald Trump said the tariffs on goods from Mexico that were set to begin on June 10 will not take effect on that date after a deal was reached between the two countries. "I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico," Trump said in a tweet. "The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended."

U.S. exporters and others expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s May 30 threat to impose new tariffs on Mexico, saying the move would lead to retaliatory measures and would significantly damage U.S. manufacturers and farmers.

According to the White House's announcement of the five percent tariff -- scheduled to rise to 10 percent July, 1, 15 percent Aug. 1, 20 percent Sept. 1 and 25 percent Oct. 1 -- the tariffs will continue until the U.S. is satisfied with Mexico's efforts to curb immigrants crossing its territory. President Andres Lopez Obrador said May 31 that Mexico will not respond in a desperate manner, and will wait to see how the situation evolves. He said he doesn't believe in "a tooth for a tooth nor an eye or an eye because, ... we would all be toothless or blind." He said Mexico will attempt dialogue with the U.S, and that he thinks President Donald Trump will come to the realization that tariffs are not the way to solve the immigration issue.

Jorge Guajardo, former Consul General of Mexico to the U.S. in Austin, and a senior director at McLarty Associates, acknowledged that Obrador said he didn’t believe in an eye-for-an-eye response. But Guajardo, who also served as Mexico’s ambassador to China before joining McLarty, noted that the U.S. exported $299 billion to Mexico last year. Guajardo said the U.S. exports more to Mexico than China, Japan and South Korea combined.

"Mexico has much more artillery in its arsenal to retaliate,” he said, and he doesn’t see how Obrador could withstand the political pressure not to retaliate on June 10, even if 5 percent tariffs are not economically significant. “Mexico would not stand for being humiliated in this way without applying retaliatory measures,” he said. Mexico would have to be strategic, since many of the U.S. imports are inputs for Mexican industry, and putting tariffs on them would be a self-inflicted wound. But products where Mexicans are the end consumer – such as pork – are natural targets, he said.

Stephen Claeys, a trade lawyer at Wiley Rein, said he thinks Mexico will be reluctant to impose tariffs of its own. "I’d imagine they’d keep their powder dry at first and try to work through the issue," he said. "They might put out a proposed list so it’s out there. That would get the ag folks more concerned."

The National Pork Producers Council said U.S. pork producers “cannot afford retaliatory tariffs” from Mexico, which it said is its “largest export market.” The NPPC said Mexico “will surely implement” retaliatory tariffs. We appeal to President Trump to reconsider plans to open a new trade dispute with Mexico,” David Herring, president of the NPCC, said in a statement, calling for swift ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. “We hope those members of Congress who are working to restrict the administration’s trade relief programs take note. While these programs provide only partial relief to the damage trade retaliation has exacted on U.S. agriculture, they are desperately needed.”

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a campaign of more than 150 U.S. retail, technology, manufacturing and agriculture companies, echoed those concerns. “These tariffs will likely invite retaliation on the products we export to Mexico,” it said in a statement, mentioning agricultural products, electronics, engines and car parts. Farmers will “now be faced with more uncertainty and new trade barriers,” the statement said.

The Consumer Technology association also attacked the new Mexican tariff threats, saying retaliation from Mexico could be damaging. “Mexico is not only one of our top trading partners, it's the number one export market for American consumer technology sector products,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro. If Mexico retaliates with tariffs of its own, he said, U.S. “employers and workers will end up paying twice over for the administration's misguided trade policies."

The Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions with Huawei and 68 of its affiliates without new licensing requirements set by their recent addition to the Entity List. The general license authorizes exports, re-exports and in-country transfers under pre-listing conditions if they are related to the continued operation of existing networks and equipment; support for existing Huawei handsets; cybersecurity research and vulnerability disclosure; or engagement necessary for the development of 5G standards by a recognized standards body. The general license is scheduled for publication in the May 22 Federal Register, and will remain in effect from May 20 through Aug. 19.

The 25 percent Section 232 tariffs on Canadian steel and the 10 percent tariffs on aluminum will be removed within 48 hours, Canada and the U.S. said May 17. When the metals tariffs are removed, Canada will also roll back its retaliatory tariffs, which hit American metals and agriculture, as well as some prepared food. The joint statement said stricter customs enforcement to prevent transshipment will be coordinated between Canada and the U.S.

Moreover, the U.S. and Canada will monitor whether there is a surge in any particular steel or aluminum product, and will consult with the exporting country if there is one. In determining whether any tariff is warranted due to the surge, the countries will treat products poured or melted within the NAFTA region differently than those that were processed in the NAFTA region but poured overseas. Currently, products that undergo substantial transformation within a country are given that country's rule of origin, so downstream producers could have a price advantage if they import dumped metal before producing the specific item.

If consultations are not successful, either the U.S. or Canada can return to a 25 percent tariff on that steel product facing a surge of imports or a 10 percent tariff on that aluminum product that has had a surge of imports. The exporting country's retaliation would have to be limited to steel or aluminum.

President Donald Trump said May 17 said the U.S. has also reached an agreement with Mexico to drop U.S. Section 232 tariffs. The Mexican government issued a statement that said it would be lifting all its retaliatory tariffs in response. Mexico had targeted U.S. pork, dairy and metals. Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador noted in the statement that this agreement will allow the countries to move forward with ratifying the new NAFTA, which is known in that country as the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada, or T-MEC, for the Spanish acronym. The Mexican statement did not say how quickly the tariffs and retaliatory tariffs would be lifted. A joint statement from Canada and the U.S. said tariffs would end under a similar agreement within 48 hours.

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued its notice adding Huawei and 68 of the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer’s affiliates to the Entity List. Effective May 16, the notice imposes a license requirement on Huawei and its listed affiliates for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, with a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be allowed for the listed entities. Shipments aboard a carrier to the port of export or re-export as of May 16 may proceed to their destination under their previous eligibility for a license exception or no license required. The notice is scheduled for publication May 21.

China will raise tariff rates on 5,140 tariff lines of U.S. goods in response to the latest escalation in the trade war, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced May 13. It is not increasing tariffs on the U.S. imports that have not yet been part of retaliation. Instead, it is increasing the previously imposed punitive tariffs from 10 percent to 20 or 25 percent, and increasing other tariffs from 5 percent to 10 percent.

The largest number of products, 2,493, are going from 10 to 25 percent; another 1,078 are going from 10 to 20 percent, and for 974 tariff lines, the retaliatory tariff will increase from 5 to 10 percent. China is also holding fast at 5 percent on 595 tariff lines.

All of the increases will take effect June 1.

China will still send a delegation to meet with U.S. negotiators on a possible deal to resolve trade issues between the two countries, despite an announcement by President Donald Trump on May 5 to increase Section 301 tariffs against the country, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman. Trump tweeted that the U.S. will increase the current 10 percent tariff on $200 billion in goods to 25 percent on May 10, and may impose additional Section 301 tariffs on over $300 billion in Chinese exports.

“Regarding the US threat to levy additional tariffs on some Chinese products, there have been many similar precedents. China's position and attitude has always been clear and the US knows that very well,” the spokesman said. “The pressing task at the moment, which is also our hope, is that the US will work with China to meet each other half way and strive for a mutually-beneficial agreement on the basis of mutual respect.” While China has retaliated to each of the recent U.S. tariff increases, the spokesman didn’t mention any plans to retaliate.

Correction: A national security memorandum regarding U.S. policy on conventional arms transfers that mandated enhanced trade promotion and regulatory simplification was issued April 19, 2018.

The European Union has assembled a list of approximately $20 billion worth of imports from the U.S. that could face higher tariffs if a World Trade Organization arbitrator rules that the EU is entitled to that much compensation due to trade-distorting subsidies for Boeing's aircraft manufacturing.

The list targets aircraft, helicopters, tractors, heavy construction equipment, engine parts, chemicals, food and wine, cotton, and more.

European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said at the list rollout on April 17, "We do not want a tit-for-tat. While we need to be ready with countermeasures in case there is no other way out, I still believe that dialogue is what should prevail between important partners such as the EU and the U.S., including in bringing an end to this long-standing dispute."

The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed to an extension until Oct. 31 of the U.K.’s planned withdrawal from the EU, said European Council President Donald Tusk on twitter. Under the “flexible” six-month extension, the U.K. could still ratify the extension agreement, at which point the extension would be “terminated,” or even revoke Article 50 altogether and remain in the EU, Tusk said at a press conference following discussions among European leaders April 10 in Brussels. The extension includes plans for an “assessment” by the European Council in June, but European leaders will at that point only be “taking stock” of the situation. It won’t be a negotiating session, said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the press conference. “June is not a cliff edge,” Tusk said.

China will continue to suspend tariffs on U.S.-made cars and auto parts past April 1, according to a notice from China’s Ministry of Finance. In December, China originally announced it was suspending additional 25 percent tariffs on U.S. vehicles and parts as a show of good faith as the two countries negotiated a trade deal. The tariff suspension was scheduled to end April 1, but China announced on March 31 that the country would be upholding the suspension to “create a good atmosphere for economic and trade consultations between the two sides,” according to an unofficial translation of the announcement. The Ministry of Finance said it will announce at a later date when the extension will expire.

The European Union will offer the United Kingdom a Brexit delay of until May 22 if the U.K. Parliament passes the twice rejected EU-U.K. transition deal next week, or until April 12 if the deal is not passed, according to a statement from EU Council President Donald Tusk. Even if the transition deal doesn’t make it through Parliament, the UK will still “have a choice of a deal, no-deal, a long extension” or deciding not to leave the UK, Tusk said. But if the U.K. doesn’t inform the EU that it plans to hold European Parliament elections by April 12, “the option of a long extension will automatically become impossible,” Tusk said. European leaders met March 21 in Brussels to decide whether to offer the U.K. an extension on its withdrawal from the European Union, currently scheduled for March 30.