Exports to China

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of June 12 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it is “deeply concerning” that the White House is seeking a two-year delay on implementing government contracting and procurement-related restrictions on Huawei Technologies, saying the delay would “extend a window of opportunity for what is already a dire threat to our national security.” Speaking on the Senate floor on June 11, Schumer criticized what he said is the Trump administration's contradictory approach to China.

China is preparing to allow Belarus “greater access” to its markets, according to a June 11 report from Belarus News, which cited comments made by Cui Qiming, China’s ambassador to Belarus. Cui said China is expanding market access for a range of states and will “keep promoting diversification of trade,” the report said. The ambassador also briefly touched on the U.S.-China trade negotiations, saying the dispute has caused “great concern in the international community” and that the U.S. is trying to intimidate multiple countries with tariff threats, including China, the European Union, Japan and Mexico.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 3-7 in case they were missed.

The future for international trade with Canada is closely aligned with what will happen in the U.S. on several fronts, Canada-based law firm Bennett Jones said in its spring 2019 economic outlook report. The likelihood of passing an updated NAFTA recently got a boost through the end to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico and the retaliatory tariffs from those two countries, the law firm said. Still, the U.S. said it expects monitoring and surge prevention related to steel and aluminum, though it remains unclear exactly how this will occur. "It is not unlikely that difficult bilateral discussions still lie ahead, although it is to be hoped that the Americans would not readily reimpose these tariffs," the firm said.

China recently updated its customs regulations and policies related to imports of art and auto parts, according to KPMG’s monthly China customs update for the month of May. China has also announced that it is fully implementing the TIR Carnet system, and announced new AD duties on phenol from the U.S., KPMG said. Highlights are as follows:

The recent growth in the illegal transport of garbage may soon require more attention from the international community, said Col. John Simon, who works for the Philippines Bureau of Customs, in the latest issue of the World Customs Organization magazine. "Given the scale of the illicit trade emanating from South Korea, a Philippines-Korean Anti Waste Commission could, for example, be established to ensure that enforcement services at Philippine ports are properly trained and equipped to detect illicit importations of waste, enabling such waste to be swiftly repatriated to the country of export," he said. "Such commissions should be composed of dedicated representatives from both the public and private sectors and, besides enforcement, should also carry out public education programmes and, more importantly, work on how to improve global waste management on both sides of the equation." Many Southeast Asian countries have been grappling with the issue since China banned most imports of plastic scrap, Simon said.

China is looking into additional measures to protect its technology firms and strengthen controls on exports through a “national technological security management list system,” according to state news agencies.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of June 7 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The U.S. Department of Agriculture' Foreign Agricultural Service on June 6 issued a guidance for the exclusion process for Chinese tariffs on U.S. exports, including an unofficial translation on the Chinese Ministry of Finance's exclusion application instructions. Among a list of directives, the guidance encourages industry associations to apply for exclusion on their members’ behalf. While USDA said China’s window for accepting applications for its published list of products will end July 5, it said China is planning to publish an additional list of goods eligible for tariff exclusions with an application window from Sept. 2 through Oct. 18.