On 22 May 2018, the European Commission announced that it welcomed the adoption by the Council of the negotiating directives for free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand. The preparations – which included an impact assessment for both agreements – are now complete and formal negotiations can begin. The announcement stated:
In April, President Trump indicated that his administration would reconsider the US re-joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), after withdrawing from it last year.
Following the United States’ withdrawal from the treaty, the remaining 11 signatory states, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam nevertheless proceeded to negotiate a new trade agreement which is now finalised and referred to as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
On April 30, 2018, the President signed Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States. The Proclamation states that the United States has agreed in principle with Argentina, Australia, and Brazil on satisfactory alternative means to address the threatened impairment to our national security posed by aluminum articles imported from these countries, so they will remain exempt from the tariff in Proc. 9704 until details are finalized. The United States is continuing discussions…
On 25 April 2018, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issued an updated version of the Consolidated List. The Consolidated List is a list of all persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanctions laws, and includes all persons and entities to which the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 and the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 currently applies. This follows the transition of Australia’s…
It is being reported that on March 22, 2018, USTR Robert Lighthizer announced at a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the administration would exempt the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea from the 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs set to take effect on March 23, 2018.
On March 22, 2018, President Trump signed Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States and Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States which amend Proclamations 9704 and 9705 to grant relief until May 1, 2018
On 8 March 2018, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Viet Nam signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Santiago, Chile.
On January 24, 2018, the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published in the Federal Register a final rule [FAC 2005–97; FAR Case 2018–001; Docket No. 2018–0004; Sequence No. 1]
On January 23, 2018, the Canadian Prime Minister announced that the 11 countries still committed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), have agreed to an agreement after talks in Japan this week. Trade ministers will attend a signing ceremony in Chile in March. Details will be announced shortly. Certain provisions will be suspended for now with the thought that a future US administration might join the…
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 2018 Basic Edition (HTS; USITC Pub. No. 4750) was published by the US International Trade Commission. It took effect on January 1, 2018. This edition incorporates all changes to the HTS that took effect after the January 2017 printed edition was published through Presidential Proclamation 9687 of [December 22, 2017]: To Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and for Other Purposes (82 Fed. Reg. 61413), effective January 1, 2018, and other dates specified therein. It is available either as a full document download, or a chapter-by-chapter download.