Canada will again impose additional temporary import requirements for imports of U.S.-origin romaine lettuce, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report this month. The requirements, which Canada also has imposed in previous years (see 2109280034), will allow Canadians to import romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley counties of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey or San Benito only if the lettuce tests negative for “E. coli O157:H7.” The requirements will be in effect Sept. 28 through Dec. 20.
Colombia, Canada, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil recently announced antidumping and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported July 27.
The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada have reached a tentative agreement after accepting settlement terms from federal mediators on July 13, according to a tweet from Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr.
Canada and Mexico talked about the panel ruling on auto rules of origin -- a decision that went their way but that the U.S. has chosen not to implement -- and Canada brought up the issue with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai as well, according to readouts from Mexico and Canada about the bilateral meetings July 6 ahead of the official Free Trade Commission meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is extending its deadline for the new shipborne dunnage program to Nov. 6, Livingston International said June 30. The original directive for the program, published Jan. 6, made the deadline for compliance July 6. The extension was announced to "allow more time for the industry to address implementation issues," Livingston said. The order also includes amendments to "approved heat treatments and marking requirements made under the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15," Livingston said. CFIA did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Colombia recently lifted an import ban on U.S. poultry after lobbying from American and Colombian poultry traders and the USDA, the agency announced last week. USDA said Colombia began denying import permits for all American poultry products June 1 due to concerns about highly pathogenic avian influenza, but the agency worked with companies to “communicate the impact of the ban” to the Colombian government, which caused the country to lift the restrictions June 8.
Canada's proposal to alter its customs valuation policy to value imports according to the price of their "last sale" or "sale for export" not only would be bad for business, it "could also be illegal," lawyers at Sandler Travis said in a June client alert. The firm said the proposal is contrary to Canadian court precedent and the World Trade Organization's Customs Valuation Code that identifies the sale for export as the one in which "title is passed to the importer of the goods."
Argentina recently created a new trade unit to monitor purchases and sales of “goods and services in internal and external trade,” promote “commercial operations fairly,” trace traded goods and guide consumers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 20. HKTDC said it isn’t “entirely clear whether any additional trade restrictions will be adopted” under the new unit, adding that Argentina is looking to better analyze trade data “and adopt any measures that may be warranted within the scope of [the participating government entities'] respective authorities.”
The U.S. and Mexico have been consulting about U.S. complaints about favoritism to Mexican energy providers for 11 months, with no public movement toward a dispute settlement panel, and Karen Antebi, a former NAFTA negotiator, said she doesn't expect that to change in the next year.
Canada's agriculture and trade ministers say that Canada will join U.S. dispute consultations on Mexican biotech policies as a third party. They made the announcement June 9.