TradeLane

On December 6^th, 2019 the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed the imposition of up to 100 percent ad valorem additional duties on a preliminary list of products from France. These include cheese, cosmetics, handbags, sparkling wines, porcelain, and enamelled households articles, the list can be found here.

Parliament in the United Kingdom is currently debating approval of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) that outlines a potential future relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union after Brexit.

The UK has requested that the European Union extend the Brexit deadline to January 31, 2020, in order to properly scrutinize this bill. Additionally, the Prime Minister has called for a general election to occur in December, if an extension is granted. 

Following a 15 years dispute between the United States and the European Union regarding aviation industry-related subsidies, the World Trade Organization recently issued a report that justifies up to USD $7.5 billion annually in countermeasures made by the US against EU countries as a result.

According to Announcement of GACC [2019] No.127, to promote trade facilitation, China Customs decided to implement a “two-step declaration” pilot program in some Customs houses under Manzhouli Customs, Hangzhou Customs, Ningbo Customs, Qingdao Customs, Shenzhen Customs, and Huangpu Customs since Aug. 24^th.

The EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) agreed recently on a draft-free trade agreement that, if implemented, will create the largest free trade area in the world, connecting over 770 million people. The agreement has been agreed in principle and will now move to legal revision. This will lead to a final text of the agreement being sent to the member states of both blocs for approval.