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.
Exports to China
Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China signed a customs agreement to exchange information about goods and “transport vehicles,” according to a June 6 report from Tass, a Russian state-run news site. The agreement will speed up customs operations, improve efficiency “in the field of risk management,” improve customs control forms and mitigate risks “of transporting potentially dangerous, banned and restricted goods” between the EAEU and China, the report said. Along with China, the agreement was signed by the chairman of the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and officials representing Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, according to the report.
House members and experts made the case for a quick and long-term reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank of the United States during a June 4 House Financial Services Committee hearing, saying the move could significantly benefit U.S. exporters and help counter China’s export credit agencies and state subsidies. The hearing came about a month after the Senate voted to confirm three appointees to the bank’s board of directors, giving the bank enough directors for a quorum to approve transactions of more than $10 million (see 1905080073).
Panelists warned against increasingly strict export controls and criticized the Trump administration's handling of the Huawei blacklisting during a June 4 Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing on “Confronting Threats From China: Assessing Controls on Technology and Investment, and Measures to Combat Opioid Trafficking.” The U.S. is drawing dangerously close to shrinking markets for U.S. semiconductor exporters, the panelists said, a move that could prove devastating for the industry. They also suggested the Trump administration’s restrictions on Huawei are too broad and have hurt U.S. exporters as well as damaged trade talks between the two sides.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of June 5 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
In the June 5 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Taiwan customs is cracking down on illegal imports of industrial waste at the Port of Taichung, it said in a press release. China’s ban on the importation of solid waste, including plastics waste and metals, has caused an increase in imports of the goods into the Taichung Port Free Trade Zone since November 2018, the release said. Imports of industrial waste require a permit, and industrial waste that enters without a permit is subject to seizure and return to the exporting country, as well as a fine of over $300,000 (U.S. dollars). “If all the import requirements are fulfilled, and importers are compliant with relevant law and regulations, imposition of penalties or fines will not be needed,” the release said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 28-31 in case they were missed.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service released a translation of China’s food safety standard for the maximum residue limits of pesticides in foods, which sets 302 MRLs for 43 pesticides, USDA said in a May 22 report. The limits were issued by China's National Health Commission, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, and took effect in December.