China’s and Belarus’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement officially takes effect July 24, according to an unofficial translation of a notice from China’s General Administration of Customs. The arrangement will improve customs relations between the two countries, including reducing document reviews, lower inspection rates, higher inspection priorities for goods being shipped between the two countries and “fast customs clearance,” China said.
The European Union is hailing the completion of a mutual recognition agreement -- in the works for five years -- that the Food and Drug Administration can rely on European inspections of their drugmakers, and vice versa. The July 11 press release framed it as one of the significant goals sought by EU President Jean-Paul Juncker and President Donald Trump when they declared in July 2018 an intention to work toward trade talks and regulatory harmonization.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is backing Huawei, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Chinese Embassy in the United Arab Emirates said in a July 11 press release. The press release included comments from Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx, a South African market research company, who said the country has reaffirmed its commitment to buying from the Chinese tech giant. “It's very clear that Huawei has the full support of (our) government,” Goldstuck said, adding the company plays a “key role” in the South African market. He also pointed to lack of "home-grown technologies" that can ramp up quickly to 5G, so Huawei has a role to fill in the South African “engagement with the so-called 4th industrial revolution," he said.
China plans to impose sanctions on U.S. companies that sell defense products to Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said July 12.
An increasing number of foreign entities are using front companies to evade restrictions placed on them after being added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, said Kevin Kurland, director of Commerce’s Office of Enforcement Analysis.
Vietnam is increasing customs enforcement and oversight of imported and exported “loudspeakers,” saying the speakers have recently been found to be used to smuggle drugs into the country, according to a July 9 report from Vietnam Customs' mouthpiece CustomsNews. Customs said it will increase inspections and “intensify” its screening methods of cabinet and mobile loudspeakers. The report specifically mentions speakers being imported from “targeted areas producing, trading and transporting drugs” such as China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, South America and Africa.
Huawei will remain on the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List but "we've opened the door, relaxed a bit the licensing requirements from the Commerce Department where there are not national security influences or consequences," White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said at a CNBC Capital Exchange event July 9. For example, "some of the chip companies would be permitted to sell on a limited basis to Huawei," he said. Those may be parts for "general merchandise" that ends up in countries "where we don't hold any great cachet," such as South Korea or Vietnam, he said. "That's the sort of thing that will be opened up that was closed." Kudlow also noted that China and the U.S. aren't far apart in their trade talks, but said that sometimes the last pieces can be the most difficult to resolve. China has resisted U.S. requests for change in Chinese laws and for enforcement provisions, he said.