The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee appears to be among the advisory committees that aren't eligible for elimination under a recent executive order. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in June that directed all federal departments and agencies to eliminate one-third of their current Federal Advisory Committee Act-authorized committees by Sept. 30 (see 1906170021). Committees authorized by statute aren't eligible for elimination and, according to a search on the FACA database, there are 22 trade-focused committees that are required by statute.
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China's newly announced Shanghai Free Trade Zone will continue “regardless” of its trade relationship with the U.S., China’s Vice Commerce Minister and top trade negotiator Wang Shouwen said during an Aug. 6 press conference, according to an unofficial translation of a transcript from it.
The White House is delaying decisions on Huawei export licenses after China announced it was suspending purchases of U.S. agricultural products, Bloomberg reported Aug. 8. President Donald Trump announced in June that the U.S. planned to loosen restrictions on Huawei, but that promise was contingent on China increasing U.S. agricultural purchases, Bloomberg said. In an Aug. 1 tweet, Trump said China is not buying enough agricultural goods and announced a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The Association of China Rare Earth Industry said it supports Chinese retaliatory measures against the U.S. and accused the U.S. of “trade bullying behavior,” according to an unofficial translation of the association’s Aug. 7 press release. The association said the U.S.’s threat of increased tariffs were “for the purpose of curbing and suppressing China’s emerging developing power.” China suspended purchases of U.S. agricultural goods in retaliation (see 1908050005). The association said it must use China’s advantages in rare earth resources and “resolutely support the country's positive response and countermeasures” against the U.S. “The practice of increasing tariffs and upgrading trade frictions in the United States not only harms China’s interests, but also seriously damages the interests of US businesses and consumers,” the association said. “We express our firm opposition.”
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “not going to do business with Huawei” despite Commerce officials telling U.S. companies in July the agency was planning to be more lenient on Huawei-related export license applications. “We’re not going to do business with Huawei. We’re not doing business with them. And I really made the decision," Trump said while speaking to reporters Aug. 9. "It's much simpler not to do any business with Huawei, so we're not doing business with Huawei."
Tariffs Hurt the Heartland says importers paid $6 billion in tariffs in June, up $2.5 billion, or 74 percent, from the same month in 2018. The report, based on Census data, covers the first month when Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in imports from China were at 25 percent rather than 10 percent. The advocacy group also noted that June was the 11th month in a row that American exports targeted for retaliation declined by more than 15 percent.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raised the possibility that he would not be able to broker a compromise between the two approaches on restraining the president's ability to levy tariffs under Section 232. While he said his goal is to have a committee meeting in late September or early October that would take up a "Grassley-Wyden" version, he said if that can't happen, he will bring forward competing bills and allow lots of amendments to shape them.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 29 - Aug. 2 in case they were missed.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 6 issued a set of Venezuela-related frequently asked questions, amended 12 general licenses, created 13 new general licenses and released a Venezuela sanctions guidance detailing which types of transactions are authorized between U.S. companies and Venezuela. The moves were in coordination with President Donald Trump’s Aug. 5 executive order that expanded certain sanctions on Venezuela.
The Trump administration has “done virtually nothing to support exports,” failing to open new foreign markets for U.S. sellers while also tightening export controls, according to an Aug. 2 report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. At the same time, U.S. export growth has “dropped sharply,” the report said. “Unless the president reverses course, his trade policy will continue to weaken rather than strengthen the US economy as well as undermine the global trading system,” the report said.