New foreign trade regulations in August

Ministry of Commerce: 11 measures to support high-quality development of cross-border trade and investment

China's 144-hour transit visa exemption policy applies to 37 ports

The United States imposes additional tariffs on imported goods such as electric vehicles from China

The United States and Mexico announced new measures to prevent China and other steel and aluminum from evading taxes

Colombia made an initial anti-dumping ruling on Chinese galvanized and galvanized steel coils

Argentina cancels customs clearance review of textile and footwear import labels

Brazil adjusts cross-border shopping tariffs

Turkey softens tariffs on imported Chinese cars to attract investment

India postpones the implementation date of the quality control order for 4 types of polymer products

Thailand imposes taxes on imported goods starting from 1 baht

South Africa imposes import tariffs on solar panels

Liberia issues management guidelines for imported electronic and electrical equipment

 

Ministry of Commerce: 11 measures to support high-quality development of cross-border trade and investment

Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and other four departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Business and Financial Coordination to Support High-quality Development of Cross-border Trade and Investment with Greater Efforts".

Focusing on key areas such as stabilizing foreign trade, stabilizing foreign investment, deepening "Belt and Road" economic and trade cooperation and outbound investment cooperation,

China's 144-hour transit visa exemption policy applies to 37 ports

The National Immigration Administration issued an announcement on July 15, starting from now, the 144-hour transit visa exemption policy will be implemented at the Zhengzhou aviation port in Henan Province, and the stay range will be the administrative area of ​​Henan Province; the stay range of the 144-hour transit visa exemption policy in Yunnan Province will be expanded from Kunming City to Kunming, Lijiang, Yuxi, Pu'er, Chuxiong, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Honghe, Wenshan and other 9 cities (prefectures) administrative regions.

Three new ports, including Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport and Mohan Railway Port, are applicable to the 144-hour transit visa exemption policy.

 

The United States imposes additional tariffs on imported goods such as electric vehicles from China

The Office of the United States Trade Representative issued an announcement on May 22 local time on the imposition of 301 tariffs on China, stating that some measures to impose substantial tariffs on a series of Chinese imported goods such as electric vehicles and their batteries, computer chips and medical products will take effect on August 1.

Effective August 1:

The 301 tariff rate on steel and aluminum products will be increased from 0-7.5% to 25%, including iron and non-alloy steel ingots, stainless steel and aluminum alloys;

The tariff rate on electric vehicles will increase from 25% to 100%;

The tariff rate on ship-to-shore gantry cranes will increase from 0% to 25%;

The tariff rate on photovoltaic cells (whether assembled into modules or not) will increase from 25% to 50%;

The tariff rate on N95 masks, non-disposable textile masks and non-N95 respirators will increase from 0-7.5% to 25%;

The tariff rate on lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries will increase from 7.5% to 25%;

The tariff rate on certain other key minerals will increase from 0% to 25%, including cobalt, aluminum, zinc, chromium, tungsten concentrate and iron-nickel alloys;

The tariff rate on syringes and needles will increase from 0% to 50%

 

The United States and Mexico announced new measures to prevent China and other countries from evading steel and aluminum tariffs

The United States and Mexico announced new measures to crack down on China and other countries that circumvent U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs by exporting products to Mexico.

The White House said that under the new policy implemented by President Biden, steel products imported from Mexico will be subject to a 25% U.S. "Section 232" tariff unless there is documentation that the steel was melted and cast in Mexico, the United States or Canada.

Similarly, aluminum products imported from Mexico must not contain raw aluminum smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus or Iran to circumvent the 10% "Section 232" tariff.

 

Colombia made an initial anti-dumping ruling on galvanized and galvanized sheet coils from China

The Colombian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism issued Announcement No. 204 in the Official Gazette on July 19, making an initial anti-dumping ruling on galvanized and galvanized alloy sheet coils originating in China. The preliminary ruling imposed a 29.9% temporary anti-dumping duty on the products involved. The measures will take effect from the day after the announcement is published in the Official Gazette and will be valid for six months.

The Colombian tariff numbers of the products involved are 7210.49.00.00, 7210.61.00.00 (only galvanized and galvanized ordinary sheets), 7210.69.00.00, 7225.92.00.90, 7225.99.00.90 and 7210.41.00.00. The galvanized corrugated sheet rolls and galvanized corrugated sheet rolls under tariff numbers 7210.41.00.00 and 7210.61.00.00 are not subject to the above anti-dumping duties.

 

Argentina cancels customs clearance review of textile and footwear import labels

On July 16, the Argentine government issued Resolutions No. 156/2024 and 159/2024 in the Official Gazette, announcing the cancellation of regulatory requirements for labels of imported textiles and footwear products at the import stage, and the Deputy Secretary of State for Consumer Protection will conduct post-event supervision to ensure that relevant products have corresponding product labels before they are put on the market.

Up to now, any imported product must be labeled in the country of origin of the product or apply for re-labeling to the State Secretariat of Industry and Trade before entering Argentina and flowing into marketing channels. This adjustment will effectively shorten the import process of textiles and footwear products, save import costs, and improve import efficiency. It is one of the important measures of the Argentine government to promote trade development.

 

Brazil adjusts cross-border shopping tariffs

Previously, according to the Brazilian government regulations, from 0:00 on August 1, 2024 (local time), an import tax of 20% will be imposed on orders imported into Brazil with a value of no more than US$50.

On July 11, the Brazilian government promulgated Law No. 914/2024, announcing that the tax policy for cross-border shopping will be adjusted from August 1, 2024.

According to the new regulations, consumers who purchase goods through the "Conforme Remessa" program will be able to enjoy import tax concessions if the value exceeds US$50. Although the tax rate remains at 60%, the new policy introduces a US$20 tax exemption, which will significantly reduce the tax burden on consumers.

This change is intended to encourage cross-border shopping, making the final tax rate for goods over US$50 consistent with that for goods under US$50. However, for goods worth more than US$100, the tax rate is still close to 60%. The new law requires cross-border shopping platforms to clearly display tax details to buyers to ensure the transparency of transactions.

 

Turkey softens tariff regulations on imported Chinese cars to attract investment

The presidential decision published in the Turkish government's official gazette on July 5 showed that Turkey softened its recent decision to impose tariffs on imported Chinese cars to encourage investment by automakers.

The communiqué shows that the decision amends a decree issued in June, stipulating that no additional taxes will be levied on automobile imports within the scope of the investment incentive policy. Earlier on June 8, Turkey announced that it would impose an additional 40% import tariff on fuel and hybrid passenger cars originating from China.

 

India postpones the implementation date of the quality control order for 4 types of polymer products

Recently, the Indian Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals issued an announcement after consultation with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), deciding to postpone the implementation date of the quality control order for 4 types of polymer products. The relevant quality control order was originally issued on December 6, 2023 and was originally scheduled to take effect on June 3, 2024. The table below shows the effective dates and corresponding standard requirements for these 4 types of polymer products.

After the quality control order officially comes into effect, the above-mentioned products must comply with Indian standards and be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards and affixed with a certification mark, otherwise they shall not be produced, sold, traded, imported or stored.

 

Thailand imposes tax on imported goods starting from 1 baht

Thailand's VAT Fairness Act officially came into effect on July 5. This means that goods priced below 1,500 baht sold on cross-border e-commerce platforms will no longer enjoy tax exemption treatment, and low-priced imported goods and all priced goods sold by Thai merchants will be subject to a fair 7% VAT.

The new regulations will be effective until December 31, 2024. They are temporary measures intended to be tested before further evaluation of the results.

 

South Africa imposes import tariffs on solar panels

In order to establish local solar panel manufacturing capabilities in South Africa, South African Finance Minister Godongguana recently announced that a 10% import tariff will be imposed on solar photovoltaic panels, batteries and modules.

The import tariff on photovoltaic products is one of the measures mentioned in the Renewable Energy Master Plan, which aims to create 25,000 jobs by 2030 and attract 15 billion rand in new investment through the Green Energy Plan.

The Renewable Energy Master Plan lists 49 possible market interventions to promote local manufacturing of solar, wind, lithium-ion batteries and vanadium battery storage technologies.

 

Liberia releases management guidelines for imported electronic and electrical equipment

Liberia's New Dawn newspaper reported on July 19 that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Liberia recently released management guidelines for imported electronic and electrical equipment to promote innovation and productivity in the field of electronic and electrical equipment, improve the level of modernization, and contribute to economic and technological progress. It is reported that the management guidelines will take effect on August 1, 2024.