China issued guidance for its free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the rules of origin for imports and exports, according to a Sept. 11 KPMG alert.
Exports to China
A Chinese State Council official recently met with Russian officials to discuss “a number of pragmatic cooperation agreements” in several areas, including trade, agriculture and technology, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said during a Sept. 12 press conference, according to an unofficial translation of a transcript of the event. The two sides also agreed to create a “Northeast-Far East Business Council” and plan to hold the first meeting this year, the spokesman said. China said its goal is “expanding and strengthening traditional trade” with Russia, and to “accelerate the negotiation of economic and trade system arrangements.”
A top Treasury Department official criticized Britain's decision to release an Iranian oil tanker and defended the U.S.’s maximum pressure sanctions campaign against Iran, saying the U.S. will not ease Iran sanctions ahead of a potential meeting between the two countries. Gibraltar's decision to release the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, was an “expensive mistake,” said Marshall Billingslea, Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing. Gibraltar seized the ship in July after suspecting it of transporting oil to Syria, but later released the tanker after Iran promised it would not ship oil to Syria, which would violate international sanctions. Despite the promises, the ship delivered oil to Syria (see 1909110042).
The Congressional Research Service released a report Sept. 10 on trade and economic relations between the U.S. and China, including the current issues hindering trade. The report covers U.S. issues with Chinese industrial policies, intellectual property rights and concerns over exports of sensitive technology.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged the Trump administration to make Huawei a focal point of negotiations with China and to reject requests from China to discuss Huawei in another setting. “I have a concise and pointed request to the White House this morning: tell China 'forget about it,'” Schumer said, speaking on the Senate floor Sept. 12. “Don’t let China exclude our nation’s security and Huawei from the negotiations.”
China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council will add agricultural products such as soybeans and pork to its list of tariff exemptions of U.S. goods, according to a report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. China also said it “supports" companies buying a “certain amount of U.S. farm produce” but did not specify the amount, according to the report.
The U.S. and Turkey created sectoral committees to reach the two sides’ $100 billion trade goal, the two countries said at a Sept. 10 press conference. The committees will help with the goal -- initially announced by President Donald Trump during his June G-20 meeting with Turkey -- by bringing together Turkish and American business circles to promote trade, according to a report from the Daily Sabah. The committees will be run by the two countries' trade ministries, the report said.
China criticized a bill passed by the U.S. Senate that urges the Trump administration to sanction Chinese officials responsible for the oppression of the country’s Uyghur population.
Chinese companies have begun asking about prices of U.S. agricultural goods in response to the U.S.’s two-week postponement of tariffs on Chinese goods, a China Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 11 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):