Border clearance for trucks crossing the Straits of Dover from the United Kingdom to France may slow to 40 percent to 60 percent of the current flow within one day of a no-deal Brexit, according to a leaked U.K. government memo published by The Times of London on Aug. 18. And “significant disruption” at the French border may last up to six months after the U.K. leaves the EU with no transition deal, the report said.
President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think China will retaliate for the U.S.’s planned 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods scheduled to take effect in December, Trump told reporters Aug. 15.
Singapore Customs issued updated requirements and duty treatment for the blending of petroleum by refineries and licensed warehouses, according to an Aug. 13 notice. Singapore said “petroleum licensees” are exempt from paying duties on gasoline and diesel if they “undertake blending activities” that involve the gasoline and diesel in licensed premises. Singapore said duties are paid “on the final blended product if it is dutiable and is removed from the licensed premises for local consumption.” The notice also details which specific “blending activities” are exempt from duties and when licensees are required to keep a “blending schedule for Customs’ audit purposes.”
China’s General Administration of Customs announced plans to start a two-step import declaration pilot program at 10 ports starting Aug. 24, according to Chinese Customs press release and a post from KPMG. The program allows importers to submit declarations in less steps before the goods are released by customs, KPMG said. The cities involved in the program include Huangpu, Shenzhen and Qingdao.
A Japanese newspaper said that Japan and the U.S. have begun working on text for a free trade agreement. "The points of contention have become very clear and discussions have been progressing,” said Kazuhisa Shibuya, a senior policy coordinator at Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat, at a news conference following the talks, a report in The Japan Times said. He also said the two sides are talking about rules of origin, which suggests that the U.S. is entertaining tariff elimination on at least some industrial products, not just rescinding the automobile Section 232 threat in return for agricultural market access.
China will take “necessary countermeasures” if the U.S. imposes an additional 10 percent duty on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, the Chinese State Council’s Customs Tariff Commission said Aug. 15, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The move “seriously violated the consensus” reached by the two countries and “deviated from the right track of settling differences through consultations,” the official said, according to Xinhua. The statement was in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would be increasing tariffs on Chinese goods on Sept. 1. Trump later said the tariffs would be postponed until December.
The European Union is considering changes to its global safeguards on steel products in effect since July 2018 in response to U.S. Section 232 tariffs, the European Commission said in an Aug. 14 press release. According to a recent notification to the World Trade Organization, the EU is considering changes to tariff-rate quotas on several steel products, as well as a general slowing of increases on the quotas.
The Canada Border Services Agency issued a notice detailing duty eliminations and reductions in the Canadian Customs Tariff under the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Both sets of changes took effect Aug. 8. The notice says remission will be granted on goods imported under subheading 4011.90.90, which is now duty-free under CPTPP, for which CPTPP treatment is claimed and that were imported Dec. 30, 2018, through Aug. 7, 2018, “provided the importer makes a claim for remission within two years after the date of importation.”
Brazil is eliminating tariffs on 281 products under its Ex-Tarifario regime, which provides reduced-rate treatment on certain foreign capital and information technology and telecommunications goods, according to an Aug. 12 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The additions to the list of eligible products include 261 capital goods and 20 IT and telecom goods, the report said. The tariffs will be reduced to duty-free until Dec. 21, 2021, HKT said.
Tariff negotiations among members of the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement are scheduled to conclude by January 2020, with duty reductions under the agreement to take effect in July next year, according to a report in the Namibian newspaper New Era. Signatories of the agreement, which entered into force at the end of May, have agreed that 90 percent of tariffs will be eliminated, while another 7 percent may be designated as sensitive and 3 percent may be excluded from liberalization. Namibian International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told New Era that negotiations on tariff reductions on the sensitive list are due to the African Union Commission for approval in January. “She noted that trading and tariff dismantling under the AfCFTA is to commence in July 2020, and member states are expected to conclude outstanding rules of origin negotiation,” the report said.