Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that beginning May 2, those who had property seized by the Cuban government after the Communist revolution can sue foreign companies "trafficking in property that was confiscated by the Cuban regime. Any person or company doing business in Cuba should heed this announcement," he said April 17. The right to sue foreign companies had been suspended for more than 20 years, and European diplomats warned Pompeo ahead of the announcement "the extraterritorial application of unilateral restrictive measures, such as the LIBERTAD Act, is contrary to international law." Trade Minister Cecilia Malmstrom said that if he went through with the plan to allow these lawsuits, the EU may launch a World Trade Organization case, and would allow EU companies to file counterclaims in EU courts against Americans bringing suit.

In the April 16 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union is imposing new antidumping duties on imports of urea and ammonium nitrate from the U.S., Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago, it said in a notice of its preliminary determination in the April 11 EU Official Journal. A provisional antidumping duty rate of 22.6% is now required on imports of the product by CF Industries Holdings, the sole U.S. exporter being investigated, as well as on urea and ammonium sulfate exported from the U.S. by all other companies. The new cash deposit rate takes effect April 11, though the EU may apply it retroactively as of March 22 (see 1903210046). That decision will be made at the final stage of the investigation.

The European Commission created a list of about $20 billion in U.S. imports that it could raise duties on, according to an April 12 report from Reuters. The potential tariffs stem from a World Trade Organization dispute between the U.S. and the European Union over aircraft subsidies given Boeing. The U.S. had previously identified $11 billion in European imports that could be targets of retaliatory tariffs if the World Trade Organization authorizes that level of compensation in a similar WTO dispute over subsidies for Airbus (see 1904090057).

In the April 11 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted (see 1904120033 for notices from April 12):

The European Council approved a negotiating mandate for trade talks with the U.S., but says it will not finish a free-trade agreement until the steel and aluminum tariffs on its member countries are lifted. The mandate, which was approved April 15, excludes agricultural trade from the talks.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade on April 12 posted details of its recently concluded trade continuity agreements with Norway and Iceland, as well as two letters on temporary treatment for Norwegian and Icelandic products after Brexit. The agreements, which take effect in the event the U.K. leaves the European Union with no transition deal in place, would keep tariffs at current levels rather than most-favored nation rates.

The United Kingdom recently put up two new webpages to help businesses get ready for importing and exporting with the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The checklists include guidance documents at each step with more detailed information on what new importers and exporters must do to keep trading with the EU after a no-deal Brexit. The EU and U.K. recently postponed the latter’s withdrawal from the EU until Oct. 31 (see 1904100077).

In the April 12 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs issued a policy paper April 11 intended to clarify the claiming of “input tax” value-added tax deductions for imported goods. “HMRC is aware of incorrect treatment by businesses whereby import VAT has been incorrectly deducted as input tax by non-owners of the goods,” the agency said. One situation in which this has presented itself is when businesses sell goods before importing them into the U.K. and pass title on to the new owner, but still act as importer of record and pay the import VAT. “The correct procedure is for the new owner of the goods to be the importer of record and reclaim the import VAT on the [import VAT certificate] C79 and not the previous owner,” HMRC said. Beginning July 15, HMRC will only allow claims for the “input tax” using the correct procedures, it said. As previous guidance was not clear on the correct procedure, HMRC “will not pursue historical VAT deduction where the VAT could have been recovered in full by the owner of the goods at the time of importation as long as there is no risk of duplicated claims,” it said.