Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 12-15 in case they were missed.
Exports to China
The trade war that President Donald Trump began with China 16 months ago is creating pain for businesses, but there's a deeper strategic mistake to consider, said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Goodman, who was speaking during the first session in a Congressional Trade Series on Nov. 19, said, “I still don't know what the basic strategic goal is here." He said he didn't know whether the administration wants to get structural changes to China's economy, as it claims, or whether it wants to reduce the bilateral trade deficit, or to contain China's rise.
The Commerce Department has been “slow” to complete a series of export control reviews mandated by the Export Control Reform Act, including the agency’s upcoming controls on emerging and foundational technologies, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 18 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 15 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Days before the Commerce Department's temporary general license for Huawei is set to expire, the agency and Secretary Wilbur Ross declined to say whether they will extend the license, but said it has been beneficial for U.S. rural communities. Ross suggested that Commerce would like to keep it going.
Two Chinese citizens were charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after bribing Chinese officials, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Yanliang Li and Hongwei Yang, who held leadership positions at a Chinese subsidiary of an “international multi-level marketing company,” paid bribes to retain operating licenses in China and to suppress government investigations and negative media reports about their company, the agency said.
China criticized a Nov. 14 U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report that called for more export controls against China and more support for Taiwan, saying the commission’s report is inaccurate. “The committee you mentioned is deeply entrenched in prejudice against China. Its reports are rarely based on facts,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Nov. 15. “I have no interest in commenting.” The report also provided details on “harassment” tactics employed by China against U.S. companies, including unannounced site investigations and unwarranted tax investigations (see 1911140050).
China announced tariff-rate quotas for fertilizer imports for 2020, according to a Nov. 15 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. China will set its quotas at 3.3 million tons of urea, 6.9 million tons of diamond phosphate and 3.45 million tons of compound fertilizers. The TRQ will be 1 percent for all three items, HKTDC said. Chinese authorities will accept applications and issue certificates for the quotas starting Dec. 15.
China said it opposes sanctions against Iran days after a German official suggested Europe should consider reimposing sanctions against the country for its breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “It is China's consistent position that wanton use or threat of sanctions is neither constructive nor helpful to solve any problem,” a China Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Nov. 14. “Dialogue and negotiation is the real way out.”