The Commerce Department’s presumption of denial for Huawei-related export licenses may no longer apply, Akin Gump lawyers said during a July 18 webinar.

Commerce plans to eliminate license exceptions for civil end-users from the Export Administration Regulations, according to an alert from Akin Gump. Commerce did not say when the changes would take effect, the alert said, but U.S. companies should “prepare for the possibility that currently exempted activities may soon require specific licenses” from the Bureau of Industry and Security. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs recently completed a review of the changes, according to a notice on the OIRA website.

American farmers are losing market share in Japan as Canada and Australia get the benefit of lower tariffs through the Trans-Pacific Partnership and European producers also get benefits through their region's free trade agreement with Japan.

Three trade experts discussing the role of technology in the U.S.-China trade war were split over how and when the two nations will reach a trade deal, with two saying they expect a deal soon and one saying China is willing to wait until a potentially new administration in 2020. But the experts, speaking July 18 during a panel at the Brookings Institution, agreed on one point: If there is a deal, the ban on Huawei Technologies will be lifted.

The EU's customs exemptions for low-value shipments may encourage undervaluation, the European Court of Auditors said in a report on the EU's collection of customs duties for e-commerce imports. Customs duties aren't levied on imports of goods equal to or less than €150. "These low value consignment reliefs (LVCR) can be abused via: (i) undervaluation of goods, which are declared below the thresholds for the VAT and/or customs exemptions; (ii) splitting consignments to be under the threshold limit; (iii) importing of either commercial consignments declared as gifts or of goods which are ineligible for the relief," the auditors said.

The U.S. will not sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey because of the country’s recent purchase of Russian defense items, including S-400 missile parts, President Donald Trump said during a July 16 Cabinet meeting. But Trump did not say whether the U.S. would impose sanctions on Turkey, adding that he has a “good relationship” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that Turkey was placed in a “very tough situation.” Trump said the U.S. is “speaking to Turkey.” “With all of that being said, we’re working through it,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens."

The delay in passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is closing other foreign markets for U.S. exporters as trading partners grow more uncertain about the U.S.’s trade negotiations, representatives from U.S. livestock industries said July 16.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 8-12 in case they were missed.

Global export controls and international sanctions are not stopping luxury goods from entering North Korea, which is employing a significantly larger smuggling scheme than previously known, according to a July 16 report from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS), a nonprofit research organization in Washington. The 56-page report details how North Korea works with intermediaries, freight forwarders, private financiers and others to smuggle luxury goods into the country. The report also places North Korea’s smuggling system into context: Between 2015 and 2017, at least 90 countries “served as luxury goods procurement sources” for North Korea, the report said.

Bipartisan members of the Senate and House introduced a bill on July 16 that would prevent the Trump administration from removing Huawei from Commerce’s Entity List without congressional approval. The bill would also give Congress oversight of Huawei-related export licenses granted by Commerce, allowing Congress to issue a “joint resolution of disapproval” to render any export license inactive.