An escalating U.S. trade war with Europe would further accelerate the European Union’s efforts to sign free trade deals with other countries, potentially closing off more market access for U.S. exporters, panelists told a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee June 26.

An internal “review” at Micron Technology found the memory chip supplier could “lawfully resume shipping a subset of current products” to Huawei because they aren't subject to Commerce Department export administration regulations and entity list restrictions, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said on a fiscal Q3 call. Micron reinstated those shipments about two weeks ago, he said on June 25. Micron suspended all Huawei shipments immediately after release of the May 16 notice from Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security placing the Chinese telecom gear giant and 68 of its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List (see 1905240044), Mehrotra said. Micron did so to “ensure compliance” with the restrictions and begin its review, he said.

FedEx filed a lawsuit against the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Industry and Security for imposing export controls it says are “unconstitutional” and “impossible” to comply with, according to court records. The company also said BIS’s Entity List “imposes an overbroad, disproportionate burden on FedEx,” records show. The suit asks the court to stop Commerce from enforcing certain sections of the Export Administration Regulations on FedEx, to declare the EAR “unlawful” and to award FedEx any additional appropriate relief, including “costs and expenses.”

The European Court of Justice on June 20 issued a ruling clarifying EU customs valuation using the transaction value of similar merchandise and deductive value methods. In its decision, the ECJ laid out the main criteria for deciding what constitutes similar merchandise, and found strict limitations apply to the time frame and allowable deductions for deductive value.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 17-21 in case they were missed.

President Donald Trump and the Department of the Treasury announced new Iran sanctions that target the country’s supreme leader and eight senior military officials, the White House said June 24.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seeking public input on proposed changes to labeling requirements in the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) and the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), the agency said in notices in the Canadian Gazette, Part I. Among other things, the SFCR proposal would "provide consumers with clearer information to guide their purchasing decisions, including expanding the scope of foods with a declaration of the foreign state from where the imported food comes from, what the food contains, and for how long the food would be of optimum quality," the agency said. Canada plans to implement the labeling changes through a "phased-in transition," a CFIA news release said.

The World Customs Organization will be reconsidering some classification decisions at the next Harmonized System Committee meeting in September, according to law firm Sandler Travis. The reconsideration involves classification decisions of "at least two products -- certain vitamins and certain RF generators and RE matching networks -- after reservations were filed by the U.S. and others against the classification decisions," Sandler Travis said in a June 20 email.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added five Chinese entities to its Entity List, the latest escalation in the U.S. and China’s ongoing trade war. The move restricts the entities' ability to purchase certain U.S. products and will require licenses for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations with a review policy of presumption of denial. The entities are: Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit, Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, Higon, Sugon and Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology. The Wuxi Jiangnan Institute is owned by owned by the Chinese government, Commerce said.

The shift in travelers' habits "has given rise to an ongoing evolution in the design and construction of travel goods," creating the need for further customs classification guidance, the Canada Border Services Agency said in Memorandum D10-15-29. The new memo, which was issued June 20, outlines the CBSA's "interpretative policy with respect to the tariff classification of suitcases, travelling bags, backpacks (rucksacks) and handbags of heading 42.02," it said. Chapter 42 covers "Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silk-worm gut)" and heading 42.02 includes trunks, suitcases and briefcases.