Argentina recently suspended poultry exports after detecting highly pathogenic avian influenza in its commercial poultry industry, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said March 15. USDA noted Argentina is China’s third-largest chicken supplier but said the export suspension is not expected to affect China’s global poultry imports because “alternative origin suppliers may be able to bridge the potential supply gap” this year.
A trade group for the Mexican steel industry, CANACERO, warned that Mexico likely will retaliate against U.S. steel exports if the U.S. reimposes 25% tariffs on Mexican steel -- and the U.S. exports much more steel to Mexico than vice versa.
U.S. agricultural exports to the Dominican Republic reached a record high of $2.2 billion in 2022, a 14% increase from 2021, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report this week. The agency said the increase was driven by more demand for “consumer-oriented products,” adding that the top U.S. exports to the D.R. were pork and pork products.
Canada and Mexico signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month recognizing the two countries’ national organic systems as equivalent. The Canada–Mexico Organic Equivalency Arrangement, which took effect Feb. 15, allows certain Canadian certified organic products to be sold as organic in Mexico, and vice versa, as long as the terms of the MOU are met, Canada said. The MOU covers a range of Canadian and Mexican organic products exports, including plant-origin agricultural goods, certain plant-origin processed foods, livestock and “beekeeping products.”
Canada and Peru recently announced antidumping duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 9.
Canada added new sanctions barring the export or sale of aviation fuel “to the Myanmar military regime,” it said in a Jan. 31 news release. At the same time, Canada designated six senior Myanmar military figures under its Myanmar sanctions: Htein Win, Htin Latt Oo, Than Hteik, Nyunt Win Swe, Phone Myat and Thet Pon. The announcement came on the second anniversary of a Feb. 1, 2021, military coup d’etat in the country, and was joined by similar actions from the U.S. and the U.K. (see 2301310020 and 2301310023).
Countries participating in the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity issued a joint statement on their negotiating intentions Jan. 27. The statement said, in part, "we intend to promote greater economic integration in the region and seek to increase collaboration on customs, trade facilitation, logistics, and good regulatory practices; address non-tariff barriers; and promote sustainable quality investment."
In a joint statement after the second annual deputies' meeting for the NAFTA successor, U.S., Mexican and Canadian officials said they talked about the concrete steps needed to ensure that goods made with forced labor cannot be imported into Mexico, Canada or the U.S.
Two U.S. readouts of the meetings between deputies from the three USMCA countries focused on a multitude of irritants and concerns the U.S. has with Canada and Mexico but didn't mention talks on how to resolve the U.S. violation of USMCA in its interpretation of the auto rules of origin (see 2301110058). Mexico and Canada did not issue their own readouts.
The U.K. added seven entries to its Iran (Human Rights) sanctions regime, in a Jan. 23 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation imposed the restrictions on five individuals and two entities. The individuals are Salar Abnoush, vice commander of the Basij, an Iranian military unit; Ahmad Fazelian, deputy prosecutor general for Iran's public law affairs; Kiyumars Heidari, Iranian army ground forces commander; Hossein Nejat, deputy commander-in-chief of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps at Sarallah headquarters; and Qasem Rezaei, deputy commander of Iran's Law Enforcement Forces. The two entities are the Basij Cooperative Foundation and Basij Resistance Force.