Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
The Mexico Secretariat of Economy issued two notices April 10 amending the Mexican tariff schedule and making related changes to the PROSEC sectoral promotion and IMMEX maquiladora programs. Notably, the notices reverse tariff cuts previously implemented for footwear, textiles and apparel in February. The changes were detailed in two circulars issued by the Mexican Confederation of Customs Broker Associations (CAAAREM) the following day and posted by Mexican consultancy AJR Foreign Trade.
The U.S., Mexico and several other countries expressed concern over the European Union’s plans for allocating its tariff-rate quotas after the United Kingdom’s planned withdrawal from the EU, at an April 11 meeting of the WTO trade in goods council, according to a Geneva-based trade official. “The current approach to Brexit TRQ negotiations is unacceptable and we are eager to engage [with the EU] to ensure our rights are maintained,” a U.S. representative said at the meeting.
The European Union filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization on April 2 over India’s “excess” duty rates for goods in the information and communications technology sector. The EU said India is levying tariffs on a range of products that should have no tariffs, including semiconductors, electrical transformers, telephone sets, microphones, circuits, wire and measuring instruments. The rates on those products “clearly exceed the bound rate” of 0 percent set in India’s Schedule of Concessions and Commitments implemented after the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the EU said. The tariff rates are “inconsistent with India's obligations” in the WTO, the EU said in its request for consultations.
In the April 10 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy recently posted a new webpage with information on its scheme to validate compliance with Mexican product standards at the time of entry, said the Latin American Confederation of Customs Brokers (CLAA) in an April 8 circular. Under regulations issued in October, imports subject to some Mexican standards will be denied entry into Mexico beginning June 3, 2019, if they are not accompanied by a certificate of compliance previously entered into an automated system by the third-party certifier, the circular said.
The EU is starting preparations on a list of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that would take effect after a World Trade Organization arbitrator rules in a dispute over U.S. subsidies for Boeing civil aircraft, a European Commission spokesman said. That arbitrator will tell the EU how much it is allowed to retaliate for the subsidies, the spokesman said, speaking after the U.S. released its own list of proposed retaliatory tariffs on EU goods in a similar WTO dispute on EU subsidies for Airbus (see 1904090057). The EU is open to discussing both disputes with the U.S., he said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 1-5 in case they were missed.
President Donald Trump bemoaned what he said are unfair trade practices levied against the U.S. by “many countries,” singling out and criticizing India while referring to its trade practices as “stupid trade.” Trump, speaking at a Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership meeting on April 6 in Las Vegas, accused India of imposing 100 percent tariffs on imports from the U.S. “Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is charging us over 100 percent for many things,” Trump said. “We’re charging them nothing for similar or the same products, and I have senators who say you can’t do that. It’s not free trade ... it's stupid trade.” India has repeatedly delayed retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. -- with the most recent delay coming April 1 (see 1904010010) -- in response to U.S.’s Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. During the rally, Trump also advocated for additional unspecified tariffs while accusing several unnamed countries of “charging us 200 and 250 and 300 percent” tariffs. “And we charge them nothing,” he said. “It’s OK to charge them something.”
The U.S. designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, marking the first time the U.S. has labeled a government an FTO, according to an April 8 White House notice. The designation is designed to increase financial pressure on Iran and isolate it from military resources, which the notice said are used for “terrorist activities.” The designation will take effect April 15, according to a statement made at a State Department briefing April 8 by Assistant Secretary of State for Counterterrorism Nathan Sales: "With the announcement today, which will take effect a week from now, the legal status of the IRGC will change from an organization to a designated foreign terrorist organization."