The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely June 29, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 24.

An aggressive timeline that aims to file a conference report by June 21 for the House and Senate China packages has lobbyists speculating that none of the proposals in the trade titles will be in the final bill because the two chambers are too far apart. The two chambers have relatively similar renewals of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and a big difference in their renewals of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. Each chamber has proposals the other doesn't, such as directing the administration to reopen Section 301 exclusions (Senate only); changing antidumping and countervailing duty laws (House only); removing China's eligibility for de minimis benefits (House only); and renewing and expanding Trade Adjustment Assistance (House only).

Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina recently announced antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 26.

The EU this week adopted new trade measures to support Ukraine during its war with Russia, including a one-year suspension of certain import duties. The measures, announced May 24, will suspend duties on certain industrial products, fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products. The EU also will stop collection of antidumping duties on Ukrainian imports and suspend the application of the bloc’s common rules for imports for goods originating in the country. The measures will take effect one day after publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the May 31 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body. It includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB on the following: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. A status report is also expected from Indonesia on measures relating to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.

Pakistan will lift its antidumping duties on certain polyester filament yarn imports from China and Malaysia, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported May 16. The duties will be lifted Aug. 25 unless a sunset review is conducted before then, HKTDC said. Imports of the yarn produced in or exported from either China or Malaysia are currently subject to duties of “from 2.87% to 6.82% of cost and freight value,” the report said.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Bureau of Industry and Security is leaning toward new export controls on brain computer interface technologies despite urging from industry to avoid the restrictions altogether. Thea Kendler, BIS assistant secretary for export administration, said BCI technology has too many potential “nefarious” uses to not be subject to at least some restrictions.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Bureau of Industry and Security has no immediate plans to remove the virus that caused the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, from its export control classification of EAR99 (see 2002250069), a government official said. Removing the virus from EAR99 -- a classification for products that generally don't require export licenses under the Export Administration Regulations -- could subject exports of the virus to restrictions that may hinder vital information sharing or vaccine delivery, the official said.

PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. government is working through a range of challenges when delivering export control guidance to university researchers, government officials said, including to some colleges that opt out of certain projects rather than risk violating controls. The government is also still running into challenging questions about whether its controls should apply to fundamental research, one official said.

The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, who will be one of the negotiators for the compromise China package, expressed pessimism that a version of the bill can be found that can get a majority vote in both the House and Senate. The Senate passed its version, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, with 67 votes; the House version, known as the Competes Act, only had one Republican on board.