Jacob Lew, a former chief of staff and Treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, called the Trump administration's approach to trade and sanctions “troubling,” saying the administration is placing unneeded stress on U.S. allies and damaging the effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy. Speaking April 30 at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think-tank focused on national security, Lew was critical of Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, was skeptical of the president’s “brute force” approach to trade deals and pointed to “worrisome trends” that he said will lead to U.S. undermining its own sanctions. Among those trends, Lew said, are “ambiguous diplomatic objectives, growing unpredictability, increased unilateral action” and a “narrow focus on isolated policies with less regard for the broader context.”
Exports to China
Vietnam Customs detained five containers after discovering the number of goods inside was greater than the number declared by the company on its customs forms, according to an April 29 report from its CustomsNews website. The company, K.L Import Export Trading Production Company Limited, wrote in its customs declaration that it was importing about 3,000 stainless steel sinks from China, but the report said customs officers found more than 5,000 sinks in the containers. The products also did not have a brand label, which also violated Vietnam customs laws, the report said.
Soybeans, peas and pork are now seeing new barriers to importation into China, Reuters reported on April 29. The rejections and delays of those products follow an ongoing dispute over imports of Canadian canola (see 1904170029). "Now traders say Canadian soybeans and peas face unusual obstacles," Reuters reported. "Ottawa also warned last week that China was holding up pork shipments over paperwork issues."
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of April 29 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking in Beijing to a group of 5,000, including 37 countries' prime ministers, presidents and vice presidents, said that China will continue to reform its economy in a number of ways, and that it intends to increase imports of good and services. According to an official English translation of the April 26 speech, Xi said, "China is both a global factory and a global market. With the world's largest and fastest growing middle-income population, China has a vast potential for increasing consumption. To meet our people's ever-growing material and cultural needs and give our consumers more choices and benefits, we will further lower tariffs and remove various non-tariff barriers."
New Chinese electric bike standards took effect April 15, according to a notice from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, and will impact the production, sale and use of the bikes. The announcement, made by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Public Security, strengthens the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) system as applied to e-bikes, the notice said. The changes will ensure that “no restrictions are imposed on the sale of imported CCC-compliant e-bikes,” according to the notice. The changes will also improve oversight “of the relevant certification bodies and production enterprises” to ensure bikes meet the country’s standards and that “non-compliant” bikes are not sold, the notice said. The changes also dictate the “destruction” of all non-CCC-compliant e-bikes.
President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will not ratify the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. Trump made the announcement during a speech at a National Rifle Association of America event on April 26. The White House said the treaty "cannot achieve its chief objective of addressing irresponsible arms transfers if these major arms exporters" -- including Russia and China -- "are not subject to it at all." The U.S. signed onto the treaty in 2013, but it was never ratified by the Senate as required. "The United States export controls have long been considered the gold standard for engaging in responsible arms trading and we will continue to use them under our own laws," the White House said.
China’s progress toward its satellite ambitions show the need for stricter export controls, stronger collaboration on those controls with U.S. allies, and more staffing and funding for U.S. enforcement agencies, panelists said during a meeting on U.S. space-related export controls. The discussion, part of a series of panels hosted by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on April 25, was billed as a conversation on China’s military-civil fusion. Lorand Laskai, a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, presented a dire outlook for the state of U.S.-China commercial space competition, saying China poses a major threat to U.S. export controls.
UPS, “like most other U.S. multinationals,” advocates for “fair and balanced trade,” CEO David Abney said on a Q1 earnings call April 25. The China-U.S. trade “uncertainty” is “prompting softer industry forecasts” in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. “We certainly encourage leaders of the two countries to find solutions that support increased two-way trade,” and also “assuring that many U.S. companies have access to export to China,” he said. Some UPS customers “have adjusted their supply chain” to mitigate the higher costs of the Section 301 tariffs and retaliatory Chinese duties, and to “adapt to changing trade dynamics,” he said. China economically “is still strong, maybe not as strong as in previous years,” he said. There are “a lot of developments” taking place in two-way trade between the U.S. and China, but also between “China and the rest of the world,” he said. That “sometimes gets lost in the China-U.S. discussions,” he said. “We think it gives us plenty of opportunities to focus and to apply our strategic imperatives” in e-commerce, he said. “We feel good about the economy for the rest of the year.”
The Department of Justice is drawing closer to completing regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Hickey said, and is “working closely” with the Treasury Department to develop regulations for the “expanded authority” it grants the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Speaking at the National Conference on CFIUS and Team Telecom on April 24, Hickey presented FIRRMA and CFIUS as making the U.S. a more “attractive” alternative for investment than China while criticizing that country’s “foreign ownership restrictions, joint venture requirements” and “vague” approval processes that allow the Chinese government to “pressure [U.S. companies] to transfer their technology as a condition of market access.”