Taiwan and the US have concluded negotiations on five issues since the announcement of the Taiwan-US 21st Century Trade Initiative’s launch in June 2022, including trade facilitation, good manufacturing practices, domestic regulations for service industries, anti-corruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises. This is a key step towards the completion of the Taiwan-US FTA using the building block approach. The first agreement is expected to be signed in the next few weeks. This agreement will represent…
On December 16, 2020, US Department of the Treasury delivered to Congress the semiannual Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States. Treasury determined that both Vietnam and Switzerland are currency manipulators. For each country, Treasury assessed, based on a range of evidence and circumstances, that at least part of its exchange rate management over the four quarters through June 2020, and particularly foreign exchange intervention, was for…
As the trade conflict between the United States and China continues, three free trade agreements are pressing ahead, including– the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), soon to enter into force, the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA), recently signed and which represents 30% of global economic output, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), an agreement that includes both India and China and comprises the largest trading block in the region.
CBP has published in the Federal Register the following determination concerning the country of origin of merchandise for purposes of US Government procurement under the Trade Agreements Act. A copy of the final determination may be reviewed by clicking on the ruling number. Any party-at-interest may seek judicial review of the final determination within 30 days of the date of publication in the Federal Register.
On January 26, 2018, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published in the Federal Register a final rule [Docket No. 170804727–7727–01] that amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty-one persons under twenty-three entries to the Entity List.
On July 14, 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice providing country-by-country allocations of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018) in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar, certain sugars, syrups and molasses (also known as refined sugar), specialty sugar, and sugar-containing products.
On June 29, 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), in conjunction with the Department of Commerce (DoC) , published in the Federal Register a request for comments [Docket No. USTR–2017–0010] that they will consider as part of the comprehensive performance reviews required by Executive Order 13796 of April 29, 2017)
On April 14, 2017, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) issued its Report to Congress on Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States. The Report reviews developments in international economic and exchange rate policies and is submitted pursuant to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the “1988 Act”), 22 U.S.C. § 5305, and Section 701 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (the “2015 Act”), 19 U.S.C. § 4421. Treasury has established thresholds for the three criteria specified in the 2015 Act that determine whether enhanced analysis is necessary: (1) a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States is one that is at least $20 billion; (2) a material current account surplus is one that is at least 3 percent of GDP; and (3) persistent, one-sided intervention occurs when net purchases of foreign currency are conducted repeatedly and total at least 2 percent of an economy’s GDP over a 12 month period.
Tariffs, quotas and other traditional trade barriers are gradually declining with the growth in free trade agreements. As the regional market gains strength in this sector, the Asia Pacific Food Law Guide offers key insights on food laws in 11 jurisdictions across Asia Pacific.
The Customs Service has announced that in order to be up to international standards, Taiwan has amended the Customs Import Tariff, according to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) 2017 version, recommended by World Customs Organization (WCO). The new Customs Import Tariff went into effect on January 1, 2017.