China's Foreign Ministry criticized the Commerce Department’s efforts to restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1912160032), saying the U.S. is “abusing export control measures” and “impeding” cooperation between the two countries. A ministry spokesperson said the U.S. is “over-generalizing” the concept of national security as justification for the export controls, which are aimed at preventing countries, including China, from acquiring access to sensitive U.S. technologies. “Don't think you can ever deter China's growth as well as scientific and technological innovation by limiting exports of high-end technologies to us,” the spokesman said during a Dec. 18 press conference. “You are being too arrogant.”
Exports to China
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
China and Russia proposed a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council to ease sanctions on North Korea, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said at a Dec. 17 press conference. China said it wants to denuclearize the Korean peninsula through continued negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea, which should result in the removal of sanctions. “Some sanctions should be lifted in light of [North Korea’s] compliance with relevant resolutions,” the spokesman said. “China hopes the Security Council members will … support the draft resolution proposed by China and Russia and jointly work for political settlement of the Peninsula issue.” Along with lifting sanctions, the proposal submitted by China and Russia calls for the removal of a ban on North Korean exports of statues, seafood and textiles, according to a Dec. 17 report from Reuters.
China plans to issue tariff exemptions to importers of U.S. agricultural goods on a “more regular basis” after the phase one U.S.-China trade deal was reached, according to a Dec. 17 report from Bloomberg News. China announced earlier this month it would be issuing tariff waivers for soybeans and pork (see 1912060033), which are now expected to be “handed out more frequently,” the report said. The move will “make it less punitive” for Chinese importers to buy from U.S. agricultural exports to help fulfill China’s obligations under the phase one deal, Bloomberg said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 9-13 in case you missed them.
Thailand and Hong Kong will soon begin a “pre-negotiation feasibility” study on a potential free trade agreement and hope to begin talks in 2021, according to a Dec. 16 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The feasibility study is expected to begin in February, the report said. Both countries also recently signed a series of memorandums of understanding aimed at increasing trade, better connecting industries and collaborating on innovation and technology. The two sides also discussed a “higher number” of Hong Kong companies potentially moving production sites to Thailand to avoid tariffs from the U.S.-China trade war.
With the announcement of a phase one deal, Flexport chief economist Phil Levy said the promise is for stability in tariff levels -- even if the large majority of goods facing Section 301 tariffs will retain the 25 percent hike. But, he noted in a Dec. 16 webinar, many times over the last eight months, “a deal was announced, and it didn't last. That should sort of serve as a precautionary tale.” Levy, like many observers, doesn't believe that a phase two deal, that could lead to rolling back more tariffs, is likely in the next year.
China suspended its tariff increase on U.S. imports scheduled to take effect Dec. 15, according to a report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The decision to suspend the tariffs, which resulted from an agreement on a phase one deal between the two sides (see 1912130035), covered a planned 10 percent and 5 percent increase on certain goods, Xinhua said. The country will also “continue to suspend” additional tariffs on U.S. vehicles and auto parts and continue to work on tariff exemptions for certain U.S. imports, including pork and soybeans (see 1912060033).
A bipartisan group of more than 45 lawmakers urged the Trump administration to impose strict sanctions on China’s treatment of its Uighur population, saying the October addition of 28 Chinese entities to the Commerce Department’s Entity List (see 1910070076) was not enough. “These measures were a first step that do not go far enough in ensuring accountability for China’s government and Communist Party,” the lawmakers said in a Dec. 12 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
The Commerce Department plans to release its first set of proposed controls on emerging technologies in six areas, including the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors, a top Commerce official said. The six proposed rules (see 1912130055), which may not be released until early next year, include restrictions on items in the fields of quantum technology, semiconductor design, chemicals, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and possibly 3D printing, said Matt Borman, Commerce’s deputy assistant secretary for export administration. The controls stem from an advance notice of proposed rulemaking published more than a year ago.