India is increasing import duties on certain Chinese tires for the next five years, according to a July 10 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The additional tariff will range between about 9 percent and 17.5 percent, the report said, and will cover eight tariff categories on all “China-sourced radial” tires. The tariffs will apply to “outsized tyres typically required by buses or trucks” and is aimed at helping to boost India’s domestic tire manufacturers. A 12 percent to 18 percent import levy already applied to China-made truck and bus radial tires has been in place since 2017.
The European Union is hailing the completion of a mutual recognition agreement -- in the works for five years -- that the Food and Drug Administration can rely on European inspections of their drugmakers, and vice versa. The July 11 press release framed it as one of the significant goals sought by EU President Jean-Paul Juncker and President Donald Trump when they declared in July 2018 an intention to work toward trade talks and regulatory harmonization.
China plans to impose sanctions on U.S. companies that sell defense products to Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said July 12.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is backing Huawei, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Chinese Embassy in the United Arab Emirates said in a July 11 press release. The press release included comments from Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx, a South African market research company, who said the country has reaffirmed its commitment to buying from the Chinese tech giant. “It's very clear that Huawei has the full support of (our) government,” Goldstuck said, adding the company plays a “key role” in the South African market. He also pointed to lack of "home-grown technologies" that can ramp up quickly to 5G, so Huawei has a role to fill in the South African “engagement with the so-called 4th industrial revolution," he said.
An increasing number of foreign entities are using front companies to evade restrictions placed on them after being added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, said Kevin Kurland, director of Commerce’s Office of Enforcement Analysis.
Vietnam is increasing customs enforcement and oversight of imported and exported “loudspeakers,” saying the speakers have recently been found to be used to smuggle drugs into the country, according to a July 9 report from Vietnam Customs' mouthpiece CustomsNews. Customs said it will increase inspections and “intensify” its screening methods of cabinet and mobile loudspeakers. The report specifically mentions speakers being imported from “targeted areas producing, trading and transporting drugs” such as China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, South America and Africa.
Huawei will remain on the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List but "we've opened the door, relaxed a bit the licensing requirements from the Commerce Department where there are not national security influences or consequences," White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said at a CNBC Capital Exchange event July 9. For example, "some of the chip companies would be permitted to sell on a limited basis to Huawei," he said. Those may be parts for "general merchandise" that ends up in countries "where we don't hold any great cachet," such as South Korea or Vietnam, he said. "That's the sort of thing that will be opened up that was closed." Kudlow also noted that China and the U.S. aren't far apart in their trade talks, but said that sometimes the last pieces can be the most difficult to resolve. China has resisted U.S. requests for change in Chinese laws and for enforcement provisions, he said.