While nearly all the rest of the developed world was placing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, China issued notice it would be lifting restrictions on Russian exports of wheat to China. China's General Administration of Customs announced the move Feb. 23, according to an unofficial translation. The customs administration also laid out a series of monitoring and quarantine requirements for any wheat shipments. The two countries initially agreed to the trade following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing in early February, but it was announced only hours after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the South China Morning Post reported Feb. 24. Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat and the move could help alleviate its economic concerns following a large wave of sanctions from many of the globe's largest economies. "China will continue to carry out normal trade cooperation with Russia and Ukraine in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Feb. 24, according to a transcript in English of a regular press conference.

Singapore Customs made changes to the declaration requirements of strategic trade scheme (STS) bulk permit holders that will take effect on April 1, the customs administration said. STS Bulk Permit holders will need to declare the end-user name and address when declaring TradeNet permits, the notice said. For STS "Approval by Countries/Regions of Destination" Bulk Permit holders, the information for the consignee and end-user listed in the TradeNet permits should match with the information in the sales and shipping documents. If this information isn't known at the time of export, the holder will be required to declare "Distributor" in the "End User Name" and "End User Address" fields when declaring the permits, Singapore Customs said.

India removed its 10% Agriculture Infrastructure Development tax on lentils effective Feb. 12, according to a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report. Alongside the removal of import tariffs on lentils in 2021 for all countries except the U.S. (see 2108030034), the elimination of the tax means the effective tariff rate on non-U.S. lentil imports into India is now zero percent. The import duty for U.S. origin lentils was lowered from 33% to 22% “after accounting for the existing basic duty and social welfare surcharge,” the report said. India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry also announced Feb. 11 that it's moving imports of mung beans “from the freely importable category to the restricted category with immediate effect,” USDA said.

India lifted its trade restrictions on certain flat panel display modules listed under Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings 8524 and 8525, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade said. The trade policy for goods exported under subheadings 8524.11.00, "Of liquid crystals"; 8524.12.00, "Of organic light-emitting diodes"; 8524.19.00, "Other"; 8524.91.00, "Of liquid crystals"; 8524.92.00, "Of organic light-emitting diodes"; 8524.99.00, "Other"; and 8525.89.00, "Other"; was changed from "Restricted" to "Free."

China banned the import of poultry and related products from Canada following an outbreak of an avian flu subtype at a Canadian turkey farm, China's General Administration of Customs said in a Feb. 21 notice, according to an unofficial translation. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the highly pathogenic H5N1, which occurred on a farm in Nova Scotia, was reported to the World Organization for Animal Health. The Nova Scotia farm has poultry and products for local sale, CFIA said. China said any poultry or poultry products sent from Canada will either be returned or destroyed.

China sanctioned U.S. weapons manufacturers Raytheon and Lockheed Martin under its Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in response to the companies selling arms to Taiwan, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Feb. 21, according to the translated transcript of a regular press conference in Beijing. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Feb. 7 the State Department greenlighted a $100 million sale of arms to back Taiwan's use of the Patriot Air Defense System. China implemented its Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in June 2021 and is now using it to counteract the alleged violation of the "one-China principle" and uphold China's "sovereignty and security interests," the spokesperson said.

China recently updated the list of products whose foreign production facilities are required to register under Decree 248, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service said Feb. 16. New products include certain varieties of imported frozen fruit, frozen potatoes and potato products, the agency said. Under Decree 248, certain U.S. production facilities may be subject to revised customs and registration procedures before their products can enter China (see 2111040018 and 2110130022).

"China has conducted a full, comprehensive and in-depth study and evaluation of the content of the agreement. China is willing to make efforts to fully meet the CPTPP rules and standards through reforms, and to make a high-level commitment to opening up in the field of market access that exceeds China's existing contracting practices, so as to provide members with market access opportunities with huge commercial interests," a Chinese spokesperson said at a press conference, according to a translation from Professor Henry Gao. CPTPP is the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Gao said this shows "the Chinese application is serious and its accession is closer than many people might think."

China and the United Arab Emirates signed a mutual customs recognition agreement that officially went into force Feb. 14, China's General Administration of Customs said, according to an unofficial translation. Under the agreement, China and the UAE will recognize each other's customs agency's "Authorized Economic Operator" systems to clear certain goods being traded between the two nations. Both customs departments will apply a lower document review rate, a lower inspection rate, a priority for goods that require physical inspection and a designated customs liaison officer to sort customs issues between the two sides.

Vietnam recently reduced value-added taxes on a range of COVID-19 related goods, including imports, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 15. The country dropped VAT rates from 10% to 8%, which covers “all stages of a product’s life,” including import, manufacturing, processing and trading. The reduction doesn't apply to certain telecommunications items and other goods and services subject to excise tax, HKTDC said.