A quick scroll through the social media app TikTok will lead you to “thirst trap” videos, Sheena Melwani playing a beautiful song on her keyboard while her “dad” provides hilarious quips, dogs like Tina the Chi doing crazy chihuahua things, and couples like Thirsty on Main providing relationship advice and looks into their daily lives.
Have you heard about the Mexican “Fourth Transformation (4T)”? Well, this is how Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) wants his term in office to be known as. He says, throughout the course of the history, Mexico has gone through 3 important episodes: 1. Independence, 2. Reform, 3. Revolution, and 4…: the 4T.
Determining the country of origin of imported articles has become increasingly important in recent years. There has long been a requirement that imported articles be marked with the name of the country of origin. Country of origin also determines eligibility for special duties or free trade agreements.
The USMCA recently went into effect on July 1, 2020, which ended the twenty-six years reign of NAFTA. A major focus of the new agreement was to update the regulations relating to the automotive sector.
The new agreement is similar to NAFTA in many respects, and the commitments that pertain specifically to machinery, equipment and computers in Chapter 84 have not changed very much, with the exception of the rules of origin calculations for motor vehicles and parts, which impacts several categories of goods in Chapter 84.
The enactment of the “United States Mexico Canada Trade Agreement” (“USMCA”) on July 1st, 2020, heralded the first new tri-lateral trade agreement since the enactment of its predecessor, NAFTA in 1994.
On July 14, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) that stripped Hong Kong of its different and preferential treatment from mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC or China). In accordance with the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the city of Hong Kong’s sovereignty was handed over to mainland China from the U.K. in 1997, but as an autonomous city with a largely separate legal and economic system from mainland China.
To a certain extent, it goes without saying that the pandemic has certainly opened the door for PPE opportunity, and at the same time, obviously, those who would choose to simply try and take advantage of the situation. I’m not talking about price gouging, although that has certainly happened (as always) in abundance.
The United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) is currently slated to take effect beginning on July 1, 2020. A review of the text of the USMCA reveals that USMCA retains many elements of the North American Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), while displacing others with new or enhanced rules.
At the time of this writing, it’s not exactly another day in paradise, over 103,000 Americans are no longer with us, there are an estimated 1,500,000 confirmed U.S. cases of the coronavirus, and I am also ballparking at 40,000,000+ unemployment claims filed at the time of this writing, because just two weeks ago it was at 36,500,000.
The USMCA is about to kick into full force on July 1st. Is your chemical company ready? Overall, if you’ve been issuing NAFTA certificates in the past and are already familiar with that process, you might be surprised to find that the USMCA process might allow for more of your goods to qualify than NAFTA did
USMCA (T-MEC as it is formally called in Mexico) will enter into force on July 1, 2020. At least this is what the government of the Party members, the United States, Mexico and Canada have announced. In this case, operations occurring after this date will no longer be covered by NAFTA as this treaty will be terminated and consequently replaced by the USMCA.
One of the major changes to come out of this trade agreement is elimination of the NAFTA Certificate of Origin. Instead, the USMCA replaces the Certificate of Origin with a certification. In this regard, the USMCA will more closely resemble other free trade agreements, such as the Korean and Australian, which also utilize a certification.
Last month, we presented a webinar on University Export Controls and received an overwhelming positive response on an area of compliance that is sometimes overlooked, especially when it comes to the collaboration between a school, the private sector, and the government.
On March 24, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published Cargo Systems Messaging Service # 42133823 “Entry Summary Guidance for Pipe Spools from Multiple Countries of Origin” (the Message). The Message provided:
This article outlines the various mechanisms available to companies that encounter problems with the implementation and operation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that officially replaces NAFTA on July 1, 2020. While the new agreement provides many of the same mechanisms as NAFTA, there have been significant changes.
On May 4th, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) intelligence service issued an unclassified four page report which stated in part:
[DHS Intelligence Service] assess the Chinese Government [“Peoples Republic of China” (“PRC”)] intentionally concealed the severity of COVID-19 from the International community in early January while it stockpiled medical supplies by both increasing imports and decreasing exports,” the May 1 DHS report states. (emphasis added).[1]
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has presented unique challenges for the U.S. supply chain, and for the U.S. economy as a whole. Front and center is the shortage of critical medical equipment and personal protective equipment (“PPE”), including ventilators, respirators, masks, gloves, swabs and other related equipment.
The month of March has brought a deluge of cancellations of international conferences, travel and severely affected markets around the world, all due to the spread of “COVID-19” – the newest strain of the “Coronavirus” which was first discovered last December in Wuhan, China.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has officially been ratified by all three North American parties, now what? For one thing, the United States, Canada, and Mexico must develop uniform regulations with an effective date prior to, or on June 1, 2020 which is the official implementation date of the USMCA.
Originally published in the June 2020 issue of the Global Trade and Customs Journal. Read the entire article here.
What is a Digital Services Tax (DST)? A DST is a tax on revenue a company generates from digital services provided to customers in different countries. The services include advertising, data transfer and online selling.
On November 15, 2020, after 8 years of negotiations, one of the largest Free Trade Agreements in the world was signed. It is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
A March 1st decision out of the CIT has caused a stir in the global trade industry because of the CIT opinion’s apparent uncertainty of the applicability of the “first sale” rule in transactions with non-market economy manufacturers and the broader implications of that uncertainty.
There are reasons to be optimistic about the economies of the world bouncing back from the pandemic in 2021, and at the same time, the major push to restock the world’s supply of goods has been met with a variety of problems.
One would think, if from another planet, or part of the world that is sheltered completely from global information on economies, that a crisis like a worldwide pandemic could bring two superpowers together in battle to fight a common enemy.
Exporting to Russia is already a challenge. There are OFAC sanctions arising out of the Ukraine/Crimea situation, Military End User controls, and the usual export licensing requirements.
The U.S. sanctions and export controls is complex and can be easy to overlook certain fundamental considerations with respect to restriction.
On December 24, 2020, the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the European Union (“EU”) concluded the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“TCA”) which came into force on January 1, 2021. While the UK was in the EU, trade between the two blocs was governed by the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union rules
