India appealed an April World Trade Organization panel report that said its duties on information and communications technology goods destined to the EU violated India's tariff commitments, the WTO announced Dec. 14 (see 2304170018). The EU, Japan and Taiwan each have brought cases to the WTO to dispute the Indian tariffs, and India filed a similar appeal of Japan's case against the tariffs in May (see 2305250056). The WTO can't address the appeals because it doesn't have a functioning appellate body (see 2311200078).
The European Council said Dec. 12 it "adopted a decision on the signing" of the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement, which will provide "duty-free, quota-free EU market access" to all imports from Kenya. It also will lead to the "gradual opening of the Kenyan market to imports from the EU." The agreement will enter into force after the council signs it, and after it's approved by the European Parliament.
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The European Commission last week proposed to extend the current rules of origin for electric vehicles and battery trade with the U.K., delaying the imposition of new tariffs on U.K. electric vehicles until Dec. 31, 2026. The rules were scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
Seventeen senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are asking the U.S. trade representative to reach "an expedited agreement with the European Union" so that tariffs don't return on exported whiskey Jan. 1. That tariff would be 50% under the schedule the EU imposed as retaliation for the Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports.
If a bill just introduced becomes law, importers of fossil fuels, refined petroleum products, petrochemicals, fertilizer, hydrogen, adipic acid, cement, iron and steel, aluminum, glass, pulp, paper, lime and gypsum products and ethanol would have to pay a duty at the border based on the carbon intensity of either the industry in the home country, the product, if a specific petition was made, or an economywide carbon intensity measure, if no reliable data is available by industry.
New analysis from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology includes a table of more than 100 types of semiconductors and whether they’re subject to U.S. export licensing requirements. CSET also said a new red flag recently published by the Bureau of Industry and Security could cause foundries to ask more questions of customers seeking to produce advanced chips.
The European Council on Dec. 4 adopted decisions for two trade agreements with Chile, which together would create an updated version of the EU-Chile Association Agreement currently in force. The new agreements -- which the bloc is calling an advanced framework agreement and an interim trade agreement -- contain political, trade and investment components and trade and investment liberalization, respectively.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee is pushing CBP to roll out its long-awaited electronic export manifest within the next COAC term and make progress on aligning truck manifests with both Canada and Mexico to streamline exports traveling by land.
South Africa recently submitted paperwork at the World Trade Organization saying it wishes to end the moratorium on charging tariffs on electronic transmissions, arguing that it provides global tech firms with a "distinct unfair tax advantage over local competitors in developing countries," and also deprives countries where those purchases are made of corporate tax revenue. South Africa said the international taxation being considered for tech giants is a useful step, but "will not result in developing countries individually benefiting to any material extent and does not resolve the fundamental problem generated primarily by the lack of digital tariffs which can enable more sustainable promotion of investment in developing countries."