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COMMENTATORS may scoff at President Donald Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’ negotiating pretentions, but it would be hard to argue that the American food sector was not a winner in the new USA-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, stuck on September 30.…

THE PLASTICS industries of the United States, Canada and Mexico have something to cheer about – at last – from American trade policy – a north American trade deal that cuts regulatory barriers as well as tariffs. But as these three plastics markets – with a combined population of close to 500 million people – become more integrated, will this make them a tougher mark for European plastics exporters, who lack trade deals with the USA, especially.…

THE PERSONAL care product industries of the United States, Canada and Mexico have something to cheer about – at last – from American trade policy – a north American trade deal that will cut regulatory barriers as well as tariffs.

While ensuring most trade in personal care products will be exported duty free between the three signatory countries, a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – which was announced on September 30 – has a special personal care product annex.…

AMERICAN confectioners may suffer from the latest tit-for-tat tariff exchange between the USA and China, with retaliatory duties from China targeting US confectionery exports. Many of these duties are high – at 25% – imposed from September 24 on US-made sugar; cocoa powder; milk powder; honey; jams; and more; plus 20% duties on US-made confectionery without cocoa; chewing gum; some chocolates; and more.…

*EU member states have been given temporary permission to use so-called reverse charge mechanisms to collect VAT, involving shifting liability to pay from suppliers to customers, to fight fraud. The EU Council of Ministers has approved a directive allowing governments to reverse charge VAT on domestic supplies of goods and services above EUR17,500 per transaction until June 2022, when a country is losing 25% or more of VAT to carousel fraud.…

Japan’s traditional tobacco market continues to contract, with fewer people smoking and more smokers expressing a desire to stop, but sales in the heated tobacco sector remain positive and are growing.

Less than 30% of Japanese adults now smoke, according to statistics released by the health, labour and welfare ministry in early September, the first time the figure has fallen beneath that threshold since statistics were first collated in 1986.…

GREENLAND’S coalition government has lost its parliamentary majority after accepting that the Danish state could pay Danish Krone DKK700 million (USD109 million) to secure a 33% share of Greenlandic airport operator Kalaallit Airports A/S. Partii Naleraq, a pro-independence party, quit the ruling bloc because it would give Denmark, which controls Greenland defence and foreign policy, control over island transport policy.…

THE CANADIAN government has launched a contest encouraging innovators to develop and use biofuels to fly commercial airliners in Canada. The Natural Resources Canada ministry said four finalists (or fewer) will receive up to Canadian dollars CAD2 million (USD1.53 million) each over 18 months to scale up sustainable aviation fuel in Canada.…

The new director of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Lisa Osofsky, has highlighted strengthening international cooperation in the fight against fraud as a priority in her new job. Dual American-British national Osofsky, who comes with a background as a federal prosecutor in the US, particularly wants to step up cooperation on deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs).…

WITH the old certainties that the world would move steadily towards ever freer trade now crumbling, the technical textile sector is closely monitoring shifts in trade policy by key governments and international organisations.

This industry depends on the free flow of materials and finished goods – and unlike many textile segments – still has a significant manufacturing presence in mature markets, making the impact of trade policy changes complex and hard to predict.…