The World Trade Organization held phase two of its Advanced Agriculture Notification Workshop Sept. 13-16 to help members fulfill their agricultural notification obligations under the Agriculture Agreement, the WTO said. The meetings covered issues involving market access and the implementation of the Bali Decision on tariff quota administration and the Committee on Agriculture's Review Process.
Brazil recently added 399 items to its list of foreign capital goods and information technology and telecommunications goods subject to duty-free treatment under its Ex-Tarifario regime, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Sept. 16. The 333 added capital goods are classified in Harmonized System chapters 82, 84, 85, 86, 89 and 90, while the 66 added IT and telecom goods are classified in chapters 84, 85 and 90. Duty-free treatment lasts through Dec. 31, 2025. Brazil also removed 43 items from the list, and made “various changes” to its list of automotive parts that qualify for an import duty exemption, HKTDC said.
Despite the fact that the administration has not opened any formal free trade agreement negotiations in two years, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman said he's confident a trade agreement can be reached with Taiwan.
The Federal Maritime Commission will soon seek public comments on the set of factors it should consider when determining whether an ocean carrier is violating shipping regulations by refusing vessel space to shippers. The effort, outlined in a notice of proposed rulemaking required by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, also seeks to define certain “unreasonable” conduct by ocean carriers, specifically their “unreasonable refusal to deal or negotiate with respect to vessel space accommodation,” FMC said. The commission will accept comments up to 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.
India imposed a 20% export duty on rice (other than parboiled and basmati) in a bid to create more domestic availability, the Indian Ministry of Finance announced Sept. 8. The levy will hit unmilled and husked brown rice along with semi-milled and wholly milled rice. With India accounting for 40% of the global rice trade, the move will further strain countries struggling with food inflation and a growing hunger problem, Bloomberg reported. Rice is the third major agricultural commodity hit with trading restrictions in India this year, with wheat and sugar shipments also curbed. The variety of rice hit with the export tax is around 60% of India's non-basmati rice shipments, B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the Rice Exporters Association, said. The move will benefit suppliers from other countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan.
Singapore Customs arrested a Bangladeshi national and a Singaporean national Sept. 5 for allegedly evading import duties on cigarettes, the agency announced Sept. 7. As part of the operation, it also seized over 3,700 cartons of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid. Singapore Customs officers carried out the operation at an industrial building where they witnessed two men enter the building. After one man exited, the officers checked him, finding 3,744 cartons of cigarettes wrapped in black trash bags along with 288 empty green baskets that were allegedly used as cover for the cigarettes. The agency said the duty and Goods and Services tax evaded by the men totaled $319,370 and $25,440 (in Singapore dollars), respectively. "Investigations are ongoing," the release said.
Trade facilitation -- or how customs is administered -- and digital trade practices are non-tariff barriers that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework can tackle, and therefore help U.S. exporters, particularly small businesses. That was the message from a senior official at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is managing one of the four pillars of the IPEF.
Chinese trade barriers to imported food cause substantial price differences between the amount Chinese buyers pay for those U.S. commodities -- including the standard tariffs -- and the national average cost of those goods, a study from USDA's Economic Research Service estimated.
Solaiyappan Ramanathan, a permanent resident of Singapore, was ordered to pay a $558,000 fine by the Singapore State Courts for making false statements when applying for Preferential Certificates of Origin for goods his company exported, Singapore Customs announced Aug. 31. Solaiyappan is the former director of Feccuni Singapore Pte. and sole owner of Shakambri Overseas -- companies set up to import and export scrap metals and other metal products from local and overseas suppliers.
Singapore Customs arrested a man and seized 261 cartons of cigarettes for which duties were not paid, the agency said in an Aug. 26 release. The customs agency spotted the man in a car that had brown boxes in the passenger compartment. Officers found 258 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, placing the man under arrest. After a follow-up search of the man's residence, Singapore Customs found another three cartons of cigarettes and 10 empty computer casings that were used as cover loads for the cigarettes. The man allegedly evaded $22,280 in duties and $1,770 in goods and services tax, Singapore Customs said. "Court proceedings are ongoing," the release said.