The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The international trading system is in its deepest crisis in 70 years, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said, and while she understands the U.S.'s frustration with China's abuses, she laid the blame squarely on the U.S. In a speech July 19, she said the EU is concerned about the U.S. blocking appointments to the appellate body at the World Trade Organization, its attempt to justify steel and aluminum quotas on tariffs on national security grounds, its unilateral tariffs against China, and its use of "increasingly aggressive rhetoric at allies."
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 18 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The European Union will implement new safeguard tariff rate quotas on steel imports on July 19, the European Commission said in a July 18 news release. The new TRQs follow an investigation (see 1803260015) into ways the EU could prevent a glut of steel imports after the U.S. put in place its tariffs on the metal. Tariffs of 25 percent will be imposed on imports of 23 categories of steel products after exceeding the average of imports over the last three years, the EC said. "The quota is allocated on a first come first serve basis, thus at this stage not allocated by individual exporting country," it said. "These measures are imposed against all countries, with the exception of some developing countries with limited exports to the EU. Given the close economic links between the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), they have also been exempted from the measures."
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The European Union recently issued the following trade-related release (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
China filed an additional complaint at the World Trade Organization over the U.S. Section 301 tariffs. A 10 percent tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports has not yet been imposed, and will not be imposed until public input on the more than 6,000-product list is received (see 1807110050). In the past, the U.S. has accepted consultations in Geneva with China even before tariffs begin (see 1804190039).
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 16 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The European Union and China agreed on an updated "action plan" to work together against intellectual property rights violations, the European Commission said in a July 16 news release about the EU-China summit. The action plan is meant to strengthen "customs enforcement to combat counterfeiting and piracy in the trade between the two" and "promote cooperation between customs and other law enforcement agencies and authorities in order to stop production and wind up distribution networks," the EC said. The European Anti-Fraud Office and the General Administration of China Customs also agreed on a cooperation arrangement and action plan focused on "combatting customs fraud in particular in the field of tran[s]shipment fraud, illicit traffic of waste and undervaluation fraud," the EC said. Additionally, "both parties committed to taking specific actions to promote trade safety, security and facilitation, while preventing illicit trade and fighting fraud, and to strengthening cooperation in areas such as IPR protection, Smart and Secure Trade Lanes, mutual recognition of Authorised Economic Operators, anti-fraud, solid waste inspection and trade statistics," according to a joint statement from the summit.
The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: