Members responding to the American Chamber of Commerce in China's 2026 business survey cited slower customs clearances, export licenses and related approvals, and import and export controls as the non-tariff barriers they have most frequently faced over the past year, and more than half said their "operational and investment decisions" have been "significantly impacted" by export controls.
British companies are still seeing significant post-Brexit trade delays and disruptions when moving goods to and from the EU, including steel products, jets, autos, agricultural goods and more, U.K. industry officials told the country’s Parliament this week. They urged the U.K. government to resolve a range of customs issues with the EU and negotiate carve-outs from upcoming EU tariffs, especially as they said the U.K.’s trade relationship with the U.S. grows more unpredictable.
The U.S. is planning to impose a 25% tariff on imports of certain advanced chips that are then exported elsewhere, the White House said Jan. 14.
President Donald Trump said on social media Jan. 12 that he will, “[e]ffective immediately,” impose a 25% tariff on “any Country doing business” with Iran. The tariffs will cover “any and all business being done with the United States of America,” he said.
While the Venezuela military action doesn't affect trade substantially, a panel of experts said the fallout with regard to President Donald Trump's comments about Greenland afterward could "blow up the U.S.-EU deal."
A Danish member of the European Parliament from an eco-socialist party called the Red-Green Alliance is pushing for the parliament to halt consideration of a legislative package that would drop tariffs on American industrial goods and give U.S. agriculture more access to the EU market.
Companies should expect the Trump administration to continue to rely heavily on sanctions and sanctions enforcement as a foreign policy tool in 2026, including through new designations to pressure countries in the Western Hemisphere and penalties on gatekeepers that enable evasion, law firms said this month. They also said it's still unclear how the U.S. will approach its sanctions regime against Venezuela, although the administration would likely be able to easily roll back many of those restrictions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a statement Jan. 7 saying that he hopes there will be a vote on the Russia sanctions bill (see 2512190029 and 2601050050) "as early as next week."
The U.S.-China trade relationship will experience a relatively stable year in 2026 as both sides determine their next steps amid an export control stalemate, Eurasia Group analysts predicted this week.
A U.S. federal court declined a request from a Cayman Islands energy firm to preemptively block it from being sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying the company failed to point to a statute that would give the court this power.