Trade Update – 25th August 2022: ASIAN ECONOMIES GET UK TARIFF BOOST, AUSTRALIA CHALLENGES CHINA’S BARLEY CLAIMS, CANADIAN TRADE MINISTER HEADS TO MANILA and many more…
Weekly trade review provided by Chatto Creek Advisory Pty.
Chatto Creek Advisory Pty Ltd is a Melbourne-based strategic consultancy specialising in trade policy advice and government engagement strategy. It is headed by Russell Scoular, an executive with rich government relations, trade policy, and business experience throughout the Asia Pacific.
ASIAN ECONOMIES GET UK TARIFF BOOST: The UK has introduced a wide-ranging Developing Countries Trading Scheme that will provide annual tariff concessions of more than $US880 million to 65 developing economies across Asia, Africa and the Pacific. The scheme is broader than the EU GSP Program it replaces.
AUSTRALIA CHALLENGES CHINA’S BARLEY CLAIMS: In a recent statement to a WTO Dispute Panel, Australia claimed exhibits tabled by China had shown there had been no involvement from its domestic barley industry at any stage of the anti-dumping investigation. Australia had suspected this to be the case.
CANADIAN TRADE MINISTER HEADS TO MANILA: Trade Minister Ng will head to the Philippines in September where she will seek to boost trade and investment relations between the two economies. It will be the first visit to the Philippines by a Canadian Cabinet Minister since 2018.
AUSTRALIA JOINS NEW FORUM: Australia has joined the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum. It was established in April by eight members including Japan, Singapore and the US and is working to establish a certification system to help trading companies show compliance with recognised data privacy standards.
DIGITAL ACCESSION PROCESS FOR CHINA: The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement has announced its intention to establish a working group to begin an accession process for China. Its current membership of Chile, New Zealand and Singapore already has an accession process under way for South Korea.
US LAUNCHES MAJOR PATENT INQUIRY: The US International Trade Commission has launched a major inquiry into the importation into the US of certain mobile electronic devices by Lenovo and Motorola. This followed a complaint by a Japanese company Maxell that the importation infringed its patent claims.
NEW ZEALAND MEAT & FIBRE EXPORTS PASS $53 BILLION: New Zealand’s food and fibre exports rose to $53.3 billion in the year ended June 2022. It compared to $47.7 billion in a COVID-impacted June 2021 year. Trade Minister O’Connor said food and fibre made up 81.4% of New Zealand’s exports in the latest year.
US & TAIWAN AGREE ON TRADE NEGOTIATING MANDATE: The US and Taiwan have reached consensus on the negotiating mandate for their forthcoming trade negotiations. USTR Tai said the US planned to pursue an ambitious schedule for achieving high standard commitments and meaningful outcomes.
AUSTRALIA DELAYS WIRE REPORT: The Anti-Dumping Commission has for the second time delayed the publication of its essential facts statement in a continuation inquiry into anti-dumping duties on wire rope from South Africa. It says the report deadline has now been delayed by two weeks until September 14.
KOREAN SHIPYARD COMPETITIVENESS UNDER CHALLENGE: Leading shipbuilders are seeking government support to address serious worker shortages. They told Trade Minister Lee during the week they needed more training support and changes to South Korea’s existing foreign worker employment system.
