Phase One of the US and China Trade deal was signed yesterday. China has pledge to increase imports of American goods and services by at least $200 billion. As for the US, Tariffs of 25% on $250 billion of Chinese goods will remain in place and that 10% tariffs on $300 billion of goods will by reduced to 7.5%. These may all be removed depending on the outcome of Phase Two negotiations.
It is official, the US and China have reached a Phase One Trade Deal. Based on this deal, the Tariffs of List 4B will not go in effect on December 15th, and those of List 4A will go down to 7.5%
On Tuesday December 2nd, President Trump twitted his position on reinstated the tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina. According to the President, the two countries have been manipulating their currencies by devaluating them. This according to the article, is hurting manufacturers and farmers from the US to fairly export their goods.
In recent studies, experts in the Mexico's Maquiladora Industry say that the economic growth opportunities for Nuevo Laredo Mexico is in the customs and services than in attracting foreign investment for Maquiladoras. According to the study, Maquiladora will become more robotized in the upcoming years, prompting some border cities like Nuevo Laredo to evolve and rely on investment in different sectors.
As we are nearing the end of Q3, the trade community is becoming more enthusiastic about the potential ratification of the USMCA during Q4 of 2019, or Q1 of 2020 (at the latest). In the following article, supply chain professionals talk about Chapter 7 of the agreement, which is the customs and trade facilitation chapter. In comparison with NAFTA, chapter 7 under the USMCA provides more details on Advance Ruling Provisions, De Minimis, the Single Window and Enforcement.
A NAFTA binational panel issued a decision upholding a decision from the International Trade Commission (ITC) that imports of softwood lumber from Canada are causing adverse impact to the U.S. industry. The panel directed the ITC to take action on some activities to finalize the initial dispute from December 2017 in regards to the AD/CV rates.
On August 21st, The U.S. and Mexican tomato growers reached an agreement to end the antidumping duties on tomatoes imports from Mexico. The deal requires for Mexico to raise the price of the tomatoes up to 40%. In addition, the deal requires for quality inspections on more than 60% of the trucks at the border.
The Department of Commerce announced the likelihood of removing the License Exception on Civil End Users, this is as part of the current Administration agenda on Regulations of Export Controls. This new measure will have a considerable impact for those exporters who are currently using such exception on their exported products.
CBP announced the start of its pilot program to collect import data on e-commerce shipments valued at $800 usd de minimis. The intention of this pilot program is to determine whether the agency can collect this type of data on e-commerce importers and e-commerce service providers to more effectively identify and target high-risk shipments bound to the U.S.
Just a few minutes ago, The President of the United States announced that a deal had been reached with Mexico to handle the migration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. The deal came just days before the proposed deadline of June 10th went into effect. The details of the deal will be published later this evening by the State Department. the highlights of the deal includes Mexico deployment of its newly National Guard to the border with Guatemala, and will allowed immigrants to remain in Mexico until their asylum cases are resolved by the U.S.