A China Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson denied knowledge for a second straight day of China's top trade negotiators phoning their U.S. counterparts over the weekend urging the resumption of talks toward a comprehensive trade deal, as President Donald Trump claimed they had on the sidelines of the G-7 summit.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 19-23 in case they were missed.
Adrienne Braumiller and George Alfonso will offer trade-related lobbying through a new lobbying firm founded by the pair, Braumiller said in an Aug. 26 email. Braumiller, who started the Braumiller Law Group, and Alfonso, who also founded The Law Offices of S. George Alfonso, said the two will partner to create a new lobbying firm called Reigncore. The pair "have combined their unique talents and experiences in international trade and artful persuasion to form the cornerstone of Reigncore, in order to provide the consulting and lobbying services best suited for each client’s specific objectives and goals," Braumiller said in the email. Alfonso will be president and Braumiller will be CEO, though neither will "provide legal counsel or representation," Reigncore said on its website. Lobbying areas include the new NAFTA, Section 301 tariff exclusions, and export control reform efforts, it said.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to a trade deal that will see Japan buy more U.S. agricultural goods, including beef, pork, dairy and corn, the countries announced during the G-7 summit in France.
The United Kingdom and South Korea signed a trade continuity agreement Aug. 22 to ensure the countries trade under current terms after a potential no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a press release. Under the agreement, trade would “continue with minimal changes to tariffs and quotas when the UK leaves the EU,” according to a U.K. fact sheet on exporting to South Korea. The U.K. is already covered by a trade deal between the European Union and South Korea, but that could change when and if the U.K. leaves the EU with no transition deal in place.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 23 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
China is renewing a customs agreement that allows Hong Kong traders to transship cargo from Hong Kong to mainland China under reduced tariffs, according to an Aug. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The agreement allows for reduced tariffs for cargo from China’s list of “Least Developed Countries,” which includes mainly African nations, including Angola, Ethiopia, Uganda and more, the report said. The agreement allows Hong Kong traders to apply for “Certificates of Non-manipulation,” which make cargo eligible for “preferential tariffs,” the HKTDC said. The agreement was originally set to end on Aug. 1.
France said it will oppose a recently signed European Union trade deal with several South American countries, including Brazil, because of what French President Emmanuel Macron called Brazil’s failure to stop the burning of the Amazon rainforest, according to an Aug. 23 Associated Press report. Macron said France cannot approve the trade deal “in its current state.” In addition to Brazil, the EU deal with MERCOSUR involves Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. “The decisions and statements from Brazil these recent weeks show clearly that President [Jair] Bolsonaro has decided to not respect his commitments on the climate, nor to involve himself on the issue of biodiversity,” Macron said in a statement, according to the AP.
U.S. industry representatives criticized China’s Aug. 23 decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. and called for the two sides to quickly reach a trade deal. The latest Chinese tariffs could lock U.S. companies out of China for “many years,” said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council. Barry said U.S. companies are worried that China is finding other suppliers as the trade war continues, and the latest measures may only speed up the process. “More worrisome is the signal to everyone, everywhere, that the trade conflict is getting worse, not better,” Barry said. “So let’s not invest and let’s not buy.”
Vietnam "completed" its draft amendments to various export and import tariffs, which includes a change to the “regulations on preferential import tax rates for raw materials, supplies and components to manufacture” goods for the auto industry, Vietnam Customs' mouthpiece CustomsNews said in an Aug. 22 report. The regulations include a zero percent “preferential import tax rate” for “domestic raw materials, supplies and components that have not yet been produced in the period of 2019-2023,” the report said. The report also clarifies how companies can qualify for the lowered import tax rate.