Canada issued multiple new regulations related to Canada’s accession to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in the Canada Gazette, Part II. Among those is the new permit for the export of Arms Trade Treaty items to the U.S. meant to "provide a streamlined permitting process for the export of most ATT items." The regulations also include a brokering control list, brokering permit regulations, and regulations specifying activities that do not constitute brokering. The regulations will take effect on Sept. 1, according to another notice. The regulations were proposed in March (see 1904150033).

There remains a portion of the sugar-containing products export quota to the U.S. available "for utilization by Canadian residents on a first-come, first-served basis until the available quantity is fully used or September 30, 2019, whichever occurs first," the Canadian government said in a June 21 notice. Companies must request a shipment-specific import permit from Global Affairs Canada to make use of the available export quota, it said. "To claim the in-quota rate of duty, the eight-digit export permit number issued by the Department on behalf of the Government of Canada must be indicated on the appropriate US Customs entry document. Canadian exporters should provide their US Customs broker with a copy of the export permit prior to the time of export and should retain the original document."

On the day after the Mexican Senate ratified the new NAFTA (see 1906190068), Ambassador Martha Barcena told an audience of U.S.-Mexico trade advocates that Mexico acted now to send the message that her country wants trade predictability. Barcena, who was speaking at the Wilson Center "Building a Competitive U.S.-Mexico Border" conference June 20, said security issues have captured the narrative about the U.S.-Mexico border.

A spokeswoman for China’s National Development and Reform Commission on June 17 gave the clearest indication yet that China may seek to impose restrictions on rare earths exports to retaliate for U.S. tariffs. In response to a question during a regularly scheduled press conference on potential export restrictions, the spokeswoman said China is “resolutely opposed” to “anyone who attempts to use China’s rare earth resources to manufacture products” that are used to “contain and suppress China’s development,” according to an unofficial translation. The spokeswoman also mentioned the possibility of export controls and traceability requirements for Chinese rare earths.

The World Trade Organization case that the U.S. opened against China on intellectual property (see 1804090020) has been suspended. The announcement, published June 14 by the WTO, gave no indication as to why the U.S. asked the dispute panel to pause in its consideration of the case. Under WTO rules, a case can be suspended for 12 months.

Canada will try to "move in tandem" with Mexico and the U.S. as legislatures in the three countries work to ratify the replacement for NAFTA, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters June 13. Freeland, who was in Washington to talk about ratification of the trade pact, said: "We think of it as a kind of Goldilocks approach, not too hot, not too cold, we’re not going to go too fast, we’re not going to go too slow. It does mean we are going to be spending a lot of time talking with our American counterparts to get that pacing right, and I do want to say, our excellent ambassador is here, David MacNaughton. The embassy is working extremely hard on this issue and spending a lot of time on the Hill, meeting with Democrats, with Republicans both to help people understand here how the Canadian legislative process works and also to get a better understanding of where the U.S. is and where individual members of Congress and senators are."

Vietnam is cracking down on transshipment schemes that falsely claim Vietnamese country of origin to avoid high tariffs on Chinese goods, according to a June 13 report in CustomsNews. Vietnam Customs has discovered dozens of certificate of origin violations so far, particularly in the textiles and apparel, seafood, agricultural, steel, aluminum and timber sectors, the report said.

The U.S. will evaluate how much the flow of migrants to the southern border has eased in 45 days, and if U.S. officials are not satisfied, the Mexican government will consider further action to coordinate with other countries, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said June 11. He said that all the countries that are part of the increase in asylum seekers should consider a regional solution. He said migrants from many countries arrive in Mexico, and Mexico can't be wholly responsible for that. So far, Mexico has resisted what's called a "third safe country" standard, which would prevent Guatemalans from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they crossed Mexican territory. Instead, they'd have to apply for asylum in Mexico. Trump has said that if the numbers don't fall enough, he will return to his plan of raising tariffs on Mexican imports.

China appears to be formally laying the groundwork for export restrictions on rare earths, after previously only hinting in state media reports that they could be used to counter U.S. trade restrictions, according to an emailed update from the China-based consultancy Trivium. Citing a report from China's state-run Xinhua news service, Trivium said three Chinese ministries sent out survey teams June 10 to gather input from rare earths producers in several provinces. That follows three recent China National Development and Reform Commission symposiums where experts called for stricter export controls on rare earths, Trivium said. Though the survey was aimed at gathering “suggestions on how to improve protection and value of rare earths,” they also sought input on “further exerting the strategic value of rare earths and other resources,” according to an unofficial translation of the Xinhua report. The surveys signal that “Beijing is no longer hinting that it has the rare earths card at its disposal,” Trivium said. “Authorities have moved forward, and are seriously looking into the details of how exactly to implement export controls,” Trivium said. “Specifically, they are trying to understand how to minimize any negative impact on the domestic industry while maximizing external leverage.”

As promised back in April (see 1904150016), Canada has filed an appeal at the World Trade Organization covering certain elements of a ruling on U.S. treatment of Canadian softwood lumber imports. The decision, which Canada said questioned some aspects of the U.S. duties' calculation, did allow for zeroing, which had always been ruled out of bounds in previous WTO cases (see 1904100046). The appeal was filed June 4 in Geneva.