China is planning to roll out more trade-related measures to improve its comprehensive bonded zones and customs, its Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office at the Chinese Embassy in South Africa said Dec. 27, according to an English version of the release. China said it is “studying bonded policies covering the full industrial chain” to form new “competitive” business advantages, and will focus on its comprehensive bonded zones and “optimize the regulation of the express delivery industry.” China also plans to improve the efficiency of customs clearance and “cut related fees” to “develop a more open economy.”
Exports to China
Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
China’s plans to reduce import tariffs on more than 850 products (see 1912230051) is a response to the “weakest” expansion rate of the country’s economy in 30 years, according to a Dec. 27 post from Dezan Shira & Associates. The announcement was welcome news to Chinese companies, consumers and foreign exporters, who will be able to more easily ship a range of consumer goods to China, the post said. The announcement also pointed to further tariff-rate reductions with several of China's free-trade partners, including New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and others. The tariff reductions were mainly a strategic move, the post said, and aimed to “fill the gap” in China’s domestic production to help its manufacturing industry. The post also contains a partial list of imported goods impacted by the new tariff rates.
More than half of the sanctions-related enforcement actions issued by the Treasury Department in 2019 involved supply chain violations, signaling that supply chain compliance is one of the most important factors in avoiding violations, according to a December report released by Kharon, a sanctions advisory firm. The penalties are mostly due to deficiencies in three main areas of supply chain compliance, Kharon said: companies that operated in “heightened-risk jurisdictions,” companies that operated “existing and newly acquired” foreign subsidiaries, and companies that showed deficiencies while monitoring actors in its supply chain.
China’s Commerce Ministry released information about the State Council’s efforts to establish a “comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone” in 24 cities, according to an unofficial translation of a Dec. 27 notice. The ministry said the zones will “promote international trade liberalization,” “promote the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce across the country” and will feature value-added taxes on e-commerce retail exports and certain tax exemptions.
New tariff rates between China and Pakistan will take effect Jan. 1, 2020, as part of the two countries’ recently signed free trade agreement, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a Dec. 24 press release, according to an unofficial translation. As part of the agreement, China and Pakistan will “gradually increase” the elimination of tariffs, going from waivers on 35 percent of tariff lines to 75 percent, China said. The countries will also implement a 20 percent tariff reduction “on other products that account for 5% of their respective tax items,” China said.
Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
President Donald Trump signed the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 1790 into law, with provisions targeting tech companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1912130027), the White House announced on Dec. 20. The law bars the Trump administration from lifting the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei to its export entity blacklist without congressional approval. The law also requires reports to Congress on waivers issued to companies doing business with Huawei as well as ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE.
China will continue to take steps to expand imports, including further reducing tariffs, the China Ministry of Commerce said during a Dec. 26 press conference. “Expanding imports is one of the important connotations of promoting the high-quality development of trade,” a ministry spokesman said, according to an unofficial translation. “The reduction of import tariffs will help to form a new pattern of balanced, coordinated and sustainable trade development, and will promote the coordinated development of trade and industry. We will continue to take active measures to promote the orderly and free flow of international and domestic factors, the efficient allocation of resources, and the deep integration of domestic and foreign markets.” China recently said it would reduce tariffs on more than 850 items in 2020 (see 1912230051).
The National People's Congress Standing Committee of China will consider a draft law on export controls, Xinhua reported on Dec. 24. The draft would add new limits on “the export of special items including nuclear and biological materials as well as weapons, aiming to fulfill the country's international obligations of non-proliferation and protect the nation's security and development interests,” the state-run news outlet said. The law would also require “the supervision of the entire export process including transit and transshipment as well as re-export,” according to the report.