U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer touched on India’s potential retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. and criticized the country’s “significant tariff and nontariff barriers” in the 2019 National Trade Estimate on Foreign Trade Barriers. The 540-page report, released March 29, said India’s tariff barriers “impede imports of U.S. products into India” and was critical of India’s “complex” customs system and failure to “observe transparency requirements.”

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security would like to increase its funding by about $4 million for export administration (EA), the agency said in its Fiscal Year 2020 budget justification. That new money would be split between "Identifying and Reviewing Emerging Technologies" and "Addressing Increased Foreign Investment Reviews," it said. BIS is asking for funding for 21 new personnel, the agency said.

Lawmakers rejected United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May’s European Union withdrawal deal for a third time, causing uncertainty about the future of Brexit. The deal was struck down 344-286 in a March 29 vote, on the same day the U.K. was originally scheduled to leave the EU. May had sent a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk in March requesting a Brexit delay until July 30, but Tusk said the EU would grant a delay only if the U.K. Parliament adopted May’s withdrawal agreement when it voted for a third time (see 1903200068).

Canada may pursue an increase in its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods as part of an effort to convince President Donald Trump to end the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said in a March 29 report. Mexico too is said to be considering an expansion to its retaliatory tariffs (see 1903140025). Additional tariffs on the U.S. are hoped to push Trump toward lifting the metals tariffs as part of U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade deal, the CBC reported.

A task force of sanctions policy experts published a list of trends that could have an impact on the future of U.S. sanctions, providing evidence of a U.S. shift toward unilateral foreign policy decisions and warning of unintended consequences from sanctions that are increasingly complex, according to a report commissioned by the Center for a New American Security.

China overhauled its e-commerce regulations in recent months, upping its de minimis level and adding new responsibilities for logistics providers and foreign suppliers, and also adopted new regulations on foreign medical device facility inspections. Meanwhile, China's General Administration of Customs has recently set new requirements for bonded zones and set lower value-added tax rates for some products. The following is an update on recent customs and trade-related actions by China:

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $1.9 million settlement with a Connecticut-based industrial tool manufacturer and its China-based subsidiary after OFAC said the companies violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran, according to a March 27 notice. The U.S. company -- Stanley Black & Decker -- and the Chinese subsidiary -- Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co. (GQ) -- attempted to export 23 “shipments of power tools and spare parts” worth more than $3 million to Iran from mid-2013 to the end of 2014, OFAC said.

Sanctions on North Korea have not been working, a United Nations Panel of Experts official told a House subcommittee on March 27, adding that North Korea has made no progress toward denuclearization.

It is unclear if Treasury's most recent North Korean sanctions will be enforced after reports surfaced on March 26 detailing opposing positions among the president, the White House administration and the Treasury Department.

The Canada Border Services Agency plans to again push back the sunset date for legacy release options as part of the Single Window Initiative and Integrated Import Declaration transition, a CBSA spokesman said by email on March 26. Other Government Departments (OGD) service options pre-arrival review system (PARS), or SO 463, and release on minimum documentation (RMD), or SO 471, were set for decommissioning on April 1, 2019, CBSA announced last year. CBSA recently told members of the trade that the sunset date for OGD PARS (SO 463) and OGD RMD (SO 471) will now be in October.