China’s Qingdao customs center officially began a "demonstration" to test its “intelligent gate,” which allows for faster clearance of cargo, China’s General Administration of Customs said in an Aug. 28 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The first test of the new system was on Aug. 22 with a container truck rolling through the gate of the customs facility and into an adjacent "logistics park." The gate “automatically” obtains vehicle information and container number from cargo entering through the gate and identifies the goods being transported, China said. China said the gates will reduce “logistics and transportation” costs for companies.
Exports to China
If the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is passed, its impact will be felt almost immediately, Vice President Mike Pence said, speaking to reporters in South Carolina on Aug. 27.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service released an Aug. 28 report on China’s increased tariffs on U.S. goods, including translations of the measures, their scope and descriptions of each product that will fall under the new tariffs. The report includes dates that tariffs will be imposed on each product. The report also includes separate lists of U.S. agricultural products, fisheries products and forestry products impacted by each round of additional tariffs.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 28 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
China will soon begin accepting a second round of applications for exemptions from its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, according to an Aug. 28 report from Xinhua, China’s state run news agency. The exemptions are for the tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods that China imposed Sept. 24, 2018. Companies can begin filing online applications for the exclusion process between Sept. 2 and Oct. 18, the report said. Xinhua said the China State Council’s Customs Tariff Commission will “offer temporary tariff exemptions or refunds of added duties” based on the applications. China also plans to launch an exclusion process for the most recent round of retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods announced Aug. 23 (see 1908230004).
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 19-23 in case they were missed.
In the Aug. 27 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
A China Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson denied knowledge for a second straight day of China's top trade negotiators phoning their U.S. counterparts over the weekend urging the resumption of talks toward a comprehensive trade deal, as President Donald Trump claimed they had on the sidelines of the G-7 summit.
The U.S. and Japan agreed to a trade deal that will see Japan buy more U.S. agricultural goods, including beef, pork, dairy and corn, the countries announced during the G-7 summit in France.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Aug. 23 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):