The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 9 (some may also be given separate headlines):
Canada has accepted the addition of the United States and New Zealand to a dispute initiated by Australia in January over how Canada treats wine imports. Australia says that Canada maintains separate distribution channels for domestic wine and levies extra taxes and markups on imported wine. The four countries will try to reach a settlement, and if they cannot, they can request that the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body establish a panel to hear the case. Earlier, the U.S. complained to the WTO that the Canadian province of British Columbia was erecting barriers to wine imports by requiring that grocery stores sell imported wine in a separate building from the main store (see 1701180083). The Australia complaint says the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia also use the same measure as B.C.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna announced on Feb. 8 that it is ending a ban on trade in specimens of CITES-listed wildlife species with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The 2013 ban came into effect Jan. 30 after the Caribbean country failed to file annual reports required by international agreement (see 1801310025). CITES is now lifting the recommendation to suspend trade because Saint Vincent and the Grenadines recently filed the reports.
The European Union has asked for consultations under World Trade Organization rules to discuss safeguard tariffs the United States is levying on solar panels. The request, filed Feb. 7, is the first step in a dispute process on whether the tariff-rate quota violates international trade law. However, the EU did not assert that the U.S. is out of compliance with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as China did when it requested consultations earlier this week (see 1802070022). The EU said Germany is a major exporter of solar panels. Tariffs on out-of-quota solar cells are 30 percent in the first year, and decline by 5 percentage points each year until reaching 15 percent in the fourth year (see 1801230052). They apply under Section 201 of the U.S. 1974 Trade Act, which is designed to safeguard domestic industry.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 7 (some may also be given separate headlines):
China has asked for consultations under World Trade Organization rules to discuss safeguard tariffs the United States is levying against washing machines and solar panels. The request, filed at the WTO on Feb. 6, is the first step in a dispute process on whether the tariffs violate international trade law. "We believe the measures taken by the United States are not consistent with its obligations," China wrote in its requests.
China has announced new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on U.S. sorghum, according to remarks by a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to a report by Reuters, the investigations may have been launched in response to recent U.S. trade actions against China, though the Foreign Ministry spokesman denied a connection and emphasized that “this is just a normal individual case of trade remedy investigations.” Sorghum is the most valuable U.S. export to China, with China the top buyer of U.S. sorghum, Reuters said.
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, sees trade barriers as inevitable if the United Kingdom decides to leave the customs union as part of Brexit, Barnier told reporters Feb. 5. Barnier met the same day with Brexit Secretary David Davis and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. "The only thing I can say, without a customs union and outside the single market, barriers to trade in goods and services are unavoidable," he said. "The time has come to make a choice." Last year, the UK suggested possible customs arrangements going forward that allowed for streamlined operations or a transition period (see 1708150042).
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 5 (some may also be given separate headlines):
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Feb. 2 (some may also be given separate headlines):