Exports to China

In the Oct. 2 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

U.S. companies and trade associations criticized China’s high import tariffs, inconsistent import clearance procedures and restrictive sanitary requirements in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative ahead of an Oct. 2 hearing on China’s commitment to World Trade Organization obligations.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 23-27 in case they were missed.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 30 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The next few months include a "rapid-fire succession of trade and tech war deadlines" that poses a high level of uncertainty for the fight between the U.S. and China, Bank of America economists Ethan Harris and Alexander Lin said in a Sept. 30 research report. Of those deadlines, what happens with Huawei's temporary general license is likely the most important unknown, they said. Huawei on Nov. 17 will be cut off from all U.S. exports, but "we expect an 'extend and pretend' scenario where Huawei remains on the 'entity list' but is allowed to keep buying US inputs."

The State Council Information Office of China released a white paper titled “China and the World in the New Era” on Sept. 28, detailing what it said is its new “trade and investment liberalization” regulations, increased protection of intellectual property rights, its additional free trade zones and more. The paper also includes a section titled “China will never seek hegemony,” saying it does not want to “threaten, challenge or replace any other country” in its process of becoming stronger through its own development, but says other countries should not expect China to “trade its core interests or to accept anything that is damaging to China’s own sovereignty, security and development interests.”

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement is expected to be finalized this year, China’s vice minister of commerce said, adding that talks are “accelerating” and little obstacles remain.

Revenue declined 23 percent in Micron Technology’s fiscal year 2019 ended Aug. 29, but senior executives on a fiscal Q4 call Sept. 26 wouldn’t break out how much of the decrease was attributable to the disruption in shipments to Huawei. Revenue in Q4 was down 42 percent from a year earlier, but up 2 percent sequentially, exceeding Micron’s previous guidance on better-than-expected demand in the quarter, the company said. “In recent months, we have seen increased demand from customers headquartered in mainland China,” CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said. Some customers “could be making strategic decisions to build higher levels of inventory in the face of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” he said. The components Micron sells have heavy exposure in the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump announced in August he would hike those tariffs Oct. 1.

U.S. exporters say they are increasingly losing market share in China to European and Japanese companies as the trade war drags on, panelists said during a discussion at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on Sept. 25. Some U.S. companies are also losing out on Chinese license approvals as foreign competitors get to skip the line, one trade lawyer said.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Sept. 27 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):