U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission to produce a report on the greenhouse gas emissions in the domestic steel and aluminum sectors, "which will help to inform discussions with the European Union regarding the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum."
The EU will phase out by Sept. 15 a measure that had allowed five of Ukraine's neighbors to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian grains while still allowing the grains to transit through their countries, the European Commission announced. The measures were initially adopted to allow Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to restrict imports of Ukranian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in order to allow those countries to support their respective domestic industries (see 2305030012). The commission added that the scope of these measures was dropped from 17 to six tariff lines for these four products, though the measures still must remain in place given the "serious logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in five Member States."
The Canada Border Services Agency floated amendments to its valuation for duty regulations which would effectively shift its customs valuation approach to a "last sale one," potentially increasing the declared value for duty of imported goods, lawyers at Baker McKenzie said in a blog post. Canada's customs valuation regulations set the value of goods as the price paid in the sale for export of the goods to a buyer in Canada.
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service recently published reports on the benefits for U.S. exporters of beef, pork and cheese to Japan as the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement enters year five. The reports outline the Japanese tariff rates that apply to each product over the next several years, along with how the commodities fared last year.
Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and 20 other members of the House of Representatives, mostly from the Midwest, asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to make the ethanol export market in Brazil a priority, because Brazil has both non-tariff barriers and tariffs on U.S. ethanol exports.
Mexico recently revised its list of imports subject to duty-free treatment, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 2. The imports now include certain frozen fish and a range of other items and exclude certain wheat and meslin. The measures will apply through the end of this year, and certain items may continue to benefit from duty-free treatment through April 2024.
The World Trade Organization released a new Global Trade Portal, allowing users to access real-time trade data, monitor supply chain activities and provide warning of potential disruptions. The portal launched May 31 along with "new dashboards on seaborne trade in wheat and other grains and oil seeds aimed at improving market transparency at a time of food insecurity," the WTO said May 31. The portal will provide "real-time insights" into maritime grain trade based on data from analytics platform Kpler and "visualization tools based on WTO trade statistics and tariff data." The interactive grain and oilseeds dashboard will update every three hours to show short-term trade trends across various agricultural products.
Food importer Bakerly failed to establish that carrier Seafrigo USA violated shipping regulations in its complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission last year, Seafrigo told the FMC this week, adding that the importer's reasons for avoiding paying detention and demurrage charges "cannot withstand scrutiny." New Jersey-based Seafrigo asked the FMC to "reject" Bakerly's complaint and "hold that Bakerly is responsible" for more than $2 million in demurrage and detention charges that Seafrigo "paid on its behalf."
The Australia-U.K. Free Trade Agreement officially took effect May 31, Australia announced, allowing more than 99% of Australian goods to enter the U.K. duty free and eliminating Australian tariffs on more than 98% of U.K. goods (see 2303270011). Australia called the agreement a “gold standard trade deal,” saying it will benefit Australian industrial goods, electrical equipment and fashion items by eliminating tariffs on those items, and will impose duty free transitional quotas, “with eventual elimination of all tariffs,” on Australian beef, sugar, dairy and more.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.