In the Feb. 25 - March 3 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom plans to keep a countervailing duty on imports of rainbow trout from Turkey after it leaves the European Union, according to a Feb. 28 notice from the Department of International Trade. But if the EU terminates this measure before the Brexit transition period ends, the measure will not be transitioned, the notice said.
The European Union's Committee on International Trade Chairman Bernd Lange, in a roundtable with trade reporters Feb. 27, said that he asked officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative if there's any truth to rumors that the U.S. will either pull out of the government procurement agreement at the World Trade Organization, or that it will seek to raise its bound tariffs, a process that would begin at the WTO. “I got confirmation from all stakeholders this will not happen,” said Lange, who was in Washington to talk with officials from USTR, Congress, unions and think tanks. But, he added, “sometimes decisions in the United States are taken quite quick,” so he can't be sure that answer will be true next week.
In the Feb. 19-24 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The Canadian Parliament is moving the successor to NAFTA along, so that a March ratification vote is still looking likely, news from Canada says. While the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be reviewed by the agriculture, natural resources and industry/science/technology committees, not just the trade committee, the other committees only have until Feb. 25 for that review, a report from ipolitics said.
In the Feb. 13-18 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The European Union is beginning an antidumping duty investigation on aluminum extrusions from China, the European Commission said in a Feb. 14 notice in the EU Official Journal. Preliminary duties on Chinese aluminum extrusions imposed in connection with this investigation could come in seven to eight months, the notice said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released an extensive critique of the appellate body at the World Trade Organization. But the administration offered no proposals for what other countries could do to satisfy it so that it would allow the appellate body to be rejuvenated. Currently, there is no quorum for the body, so it cannot hear appeals. Many of the complaints are about how the WTO has ruled on antidumping and countervailing duty cases in the U.S. -- the report mentions “zeroing,” a method used in antidumping, nearly 100 times. The report said, “The United States is publishing this Report -- the first comprehensive study of the Appellate Body’s failure to comply with WTO rules and interpret WTO agreements as written -- to examine and explain the problem, not dictate solutions.”
In the Feb. 5-6 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade released a guidance Feb. 6 on its trade remedies investigations process after the U.K. leaves the European Union. The U.K. clarified that its Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate (TRID) will investigate new cases of dumped and subsidized imports once the U.K. leaves the EU Customs Union, which will allow the U.K. to issue trade remedies to “protect UK industries.” During the Brexit transition period, TRID will perform “transition reviews into current EU trade remedy measures which are relevant to UK industries,” the guidance says. The guidance provides more details on that process, how the UK will assess injuries to UK industries and how it will consider “possible causes of injury.”