China is considering imposing tariffs on imports of Australian barley as a result of an ongoing antidumping investigation, Australian grain groups said. The tariff may include a dumping margin of up to 73.6% and subsidy margin of up to 6.9% for Australian barley, according to a May 9 statement from the Grains Industry Market Access Forum, the Australian Grain Exporters Council, GrainGrowers, Grain Producers Australia and Grain Trade Australia. The groups said China “may provide their final determination” by May 19. During a May 11 press conference, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson called the move a “normal trade remedy investigation” and said it complies with World Trade Organization rules.

The European Commission on May 4 released a report on European Union trade remedies, highlighting recent antidumping and anti-subsidy safeguard measures, statistics surrounding unfair imports and details of EU defenses of exporters targeted in foreign trade defense investigations. Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said the EU needs to continue to ensure imports “come to Europe on fair terms, not dumped or subsidized, and that they do not make us overdependent.” He also said “making sure our companies operate in fair market conditions will be even more crucial in the times of post-corona[virus COVID-19] crisis recovery.”

Canada said earlier this week that it intends to ask for World Trade Organization permission to retaliate for the U.S. countervailing measures on supercalendered paper that ended in 2018 but were ruled out of bounds in February 2020 by the WTO appellate body (see 2002060059). Supercalendered paper is glossy paper used in advertising inserts, catalogs and magazines. The U.S. had levied 20.18% and 17.87% countervailing duties on two Canadian companies in 2015.

Payment of Canadian antidumping and countervailing duties will continue to be required, though the due date will be extended, the Canada Border Services Agency said in an April 6 email. "Duties applied under the Special Import Measures Act will remain in force and continue to be assessed, but with payment due on June 30, the new timeframe," it said. "Importers are expected to continue accurately self-assessing the amounts owing on imported goods, including SIMA duties. Imports continue to be monitored by the CBSA for compliance." The CBSA recently extended the due date for regular customs duties to June 30 (see 2003270053).

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet April 15, remotely, beginning at 1 p.m., CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by April 14.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of March 16 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The last American to serve on the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, Tom Graham, told the Georgetown Law International Trade Update conference that the body “is not coming back any time soon.” Graham, who largely agrees with the U.S. critique of Appellate Body overreach, added, “The new I have come to ... is that it's better this way.” Graham was the most prominent, but far from the only speaker at the March 5-6 conference to say that neither the Europeans nor the Americans are ready to have a meeting of the minds on how to reform the appellate function of the rules-based trading order.

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.