Export controls again lead today’s (9 September) trade news as the UK provided new guidance to exporters on the Iran sanctions regime, which has been expanded.
The was muted Also, more countries have pledged have pledgingto join – that’s the latest on the UK’s ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as the US remains quiet on their possible response.
The US also announced further tariffs on Canada, following its northern neighbour’s own retaliatory levies coming into effect yesterday.
Iran sanctions update
The government has published a Notice to Exporters informing them of changes to the Iranian sanctions regime coming into effect from 29 September.
“These measures expand and strengthen the UK’s sanctions regime against Iran, introducing new financial, trade and transport restrictions,” the statement said.
The measures also include a “set of new Schedules (1A to 1I) setting out controlled goods and technology”.
A range of sectors are impacted by the new trade restrictions, including energy-related goods and technology, maritime goods and technology, gold, precious metals and diamonds, natural gas, petrochemicals, oil and petroleum products, and sectoral software and technology.
The statement reminds traders that the prohibitions don’t only apply to exports but also to “supply and delivery (including third country trade), transfers of technology, making available goods and technology, and associated ancillary services”.
You can read the full notice, including financial and transport restrictions, plus nuclear measures, here.
This week HMRC announced it has issued a fine of over £7m to a company that had moved sanctioned goods from one part of the corporate to another “highlight[ing] how sanctions breaches can occur when UK businesses are involved in supply chains that result in sanctioned goods being supplied indirectly to Russia… even when no goods have been exported from the UK”.
For more support on navigating sanctions and export control measures you can download our updated Export Controls Whitepaper, reviewed and enhanced to help trade teams tackle the recent increase in control measures.
Settlement trade ban grows
Thus far, there’s been a lack of geopolitical fallout from foreign secretary Ed Miliband’s announcement yesterday (9 September) that the UK would impose sanctions on illegal Israeli West Bank settlements.
Per a joint press release published yesterday by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, 11 countries have joined the UK in proposing trade bans on settlements.
“Today, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK confirm their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law.”
While Canada and France launched sanctions alongside the UK, other nations were “actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures” the statement added.
UK prime minister Andy Burnham informed US President Donald Trump of the sanctions on Monday. At time of writing there has been no response from Trump, with US Secretary of State Marc Rubio telling reporters yesterday that he had no comment on the joint action, other than confirming “that "obviously we're not going to do what the UK did".
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar described Miliband’s speech to parliament yesterday, in which he condemned settlers as “terrorists”, as an “outrageous lie” and announced the closure of the UK’s consulate in Israel.
Within the UK, prominent Jewish figures have criticised the decision to sanction settlements, including the UK’s chief rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis claiming the decision would “embolden” those who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.
Another wave of US tariffs on Canadian goods
The US has introduced further retaliatory tariffs on Canadian products, including dairy, alcoholic drinks and motorcycles, as well as limiting Canadian access to US procurement programmes.
The announcement was made just hours after Canada’s own retaliatory levies worth US$20bn came into effect, with a US official telling reporters yesterday that Canada had been warned of further trade measures.
“We told the Canadians some weeks ago when they threatened to do this, that if they took this step, the United States would have no choice but to try to re-level the playing field once again”, the official told journalists.
He also noted that the Canadian minister for US trade, Dominic LeBlanc, had been in contact with the White House in recent days and that a détente could be negotiated.
LeBlanc wrote on X that the “Government of Canada is assessing the latest tariff measures” and “our first priority remains on protecting and supporting Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses from these unjustified actions”.
He added that he was in contact with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Canada “will work in good faith and constructively towards a more secure mutually beneficial trading relationship”.
Politico notes that the new levies were introduced under Section 338 of the Tariff Act 1930, the same route through which the US’ 50% tariff hike on Canadian goods was introduced last month.
Echoing problems faced by Trump’s reciprocal tariffs regime, the tariffs are already subject to legal challenges, having never been introduced via this particular statute.
Elsewhere in today’s trade headlines
- The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority has announced a provisional anti-dumping duty on glass containers originating in China
- A system issue at the National Air Traffic Services has so far grounded over 1,900 UK flights across a two-day period
Yesterday in Trade
- UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- HMRC issued another seven-figure fine to a company for breach of export control rules
- Canada’s counter-tariffs on US goods came into effect
You can read more about those stories here.
