The next few months include a "rapid-fire succession of trade and tech war deadlines" that poses a high level of uncertainty for the fight between the U.S. and China, Bank of America economists Ethan Harris and Alexander Lin said in a Sept. 30 research report. Of those deadlines, what happens with Huawei's temporary general license is likely the most important unknown, they said. Huawei on Nov. 17 will be cut off from all U.S. exports, but "we expect an 'extend and pretend' scenario where Huawei remains on the 'entity list' but is allowed to keep buying US inputs."

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said U.S. sanctions are not being enforced effectively and criticized what he said is a lack of U.S. involvement in the Japan-South Korea trade dispute.

U.S. exporters say they are increasingly losing market share in China to European and Japanese companies as the trade war drags on, panelists said during a discussion at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on Sept. 25. Some U.S. companies are also losing out on Chinese license approvals as foreign competitors get to skip the line, one trade lawyer said.

The European Union is making adjustments to its safeguards on steel products implemented in July 2018 in response to U.S. Section 232 tariffs, the European Commission said in a Sept. 27 press release.

Imposing sanctions and export controls on certain people and entities in Hong Kong for human rights violations may not achieve the U.S.’s goal and may only hurt U.S. companies, said William Reinsch, an international business chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 25 announced sanctions on two subsidiaries of COSCO Shipping Corporation and clarified that the designation does not apply to their parent company or any of other COSCO affiliates. In total, OFAC announced sanctions on five people and six entities and issued a new Frequently Asked Questions document.

The U.S. and Japan signed a deal to open Japanese market access to more than $7 billion worth of U.S. agricultural exports, the White House said Sept. 25. The deal -- announced after President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York -- is an initial agreement as the two sides continue negotiating a comprehensive trade deal “in the months ahead,” the White House said.

L3 Harris Technologies reached a $13 million settlement with the State Department for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, according to an order released Sept. 23 by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. The violations by Harris Corporation, a technology and defense contractor, occurred before it officially merged in July with L3 Technologies, an aerospace and defense company.

CBP will eliminate penalties for minor violations of Census Bureau export filing requirements as part of its upcoming electronic export manifest rollout, said Jim Swanson, director of CBP’s Cargo and Security Controls Division.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 16-20 in case they were missed.