Category Archives: Export

First-in-Nation “Leafhopper” Pest found.

August 28, 2022 By in Export, invasive species, pest, USDA Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

a minute insect commonly known as a leafhopper
Leafhopper, source: CBP.gov

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) media release, agriculture specialists at the Calexico East port intercepted a “leafhopper” in late August. This small insect’s discovery is a “First-in-Nation” pest discovered in a shipment of celery and fresh peppers. While known as the “leafhopper”, the pest is actually identified as the Kunzeana versicolora (Cicadellidae). These insects are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, trees and shrubs.  The feeding by the Leafhoppers causes plants to develop pale specks and the leafhoppers also transmit plant pathogens that may result in plant disease.

As is usual with a first-in-nation pest, the truck and shipment of food was returned (re-exported) to Mexico as a precautionary measure.

If you or anyone you know has had their shipment delayed, seized, or received a notice to export due to an invasive pest, contact David Hsu immediately by phone or text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Busiest container transhipment port – Singapore.

February 3, 2022 By in Export, Import, international trade Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
marina bay sands singapore
Photo by Kin Pastor on Pexels.com

According to the numbers released by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore in mid-January, Singapore’s port handled a total of 37.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units – an increase of 1.6% from 2020.

In 2021, Singapore handled 599 million tons of freight, more than 2020 but less than pre-COVID times.

The four next-busiest ports are all located in China: Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Shenzhen and Guangzhou Harbor.

Huawei Docs to replace Office, Google Docs and iCloud?

October 25, 2020 By in Export, Huawei, Import Export Attorney Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment
apple internet technology computer
Photo by Zana Latif on Pexels.com

2 days ago, Huawei announced “Huawei Docs”, an office productivity software suite with individual software titles: Document, Spreadsheet and Presentation – clear alternatives to Microsoft’s Word, Excel and Power Point. Take a page from Google, Huawei Docs claims to support over 50 types of file formats and “Huawei Drive” allows users to save changes to the same document across all devices using their “Huawei ID.”

For Huawei users, Huawei Docs is avialable on all Huawei Mate 40 devices worldwide. While Huawei is number one in the world for most phones shipped, this new office productivity software can only increase sales.

Ultimately, I believe this move by Huawei is a result of the export ban on Huawei – preventing Huawei from accessing Google software and or Microsoft apps found on the Google play store.

Do you supply goods to Huawei and want to know if you are in compliance with the current export regulations? Contact David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com for a no-cost consultation.

Will Huawei sell their “Honor” phone brand to avoid US sanctions?

October 18, 2020 By in Attorney, Export, Export Administration Regulations, Huawei Tags: Leave a comment
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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

According to a Reuters article on October 14th, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is in talks with Digital China Group, TCL, and/or Xiaomi to sell their “Honor” brand smartphone business. Honor was established in 2013 as Huawei’s budget line of smart phones. It is believed the new deal may earn Huawei more than $3.5 billion dollars.

One benefit of the sale away from Huawei – would be Honor’s ability to purchase materials from US suppliers. The deal, if sold would include the Honor brand, research and development, and the supply chain management business.

If you export goods overseas or have any questions about how to avoid violating export penalties for violating US sanctions – contact export attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Huawei chip supply diminishing due to US export sanctions, may soon halt production of their Kirin chipset.

August 9, 2020 By in Export, Huawei, Import Export Attorney Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment
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As you are aware, in May 2019 the US Government added Huawei and its affiliated entities to the entity list – preventing US firms from selling technology to Huawei without a license. Huawei was to remain on the list until 2021. However, in May 2020, the US Department of Commerce changed the export rule to stop any shipment of semiconductors chips to Huawei from any company that produced chips using US software and technology, unless they applied for a license.

The May 2020 revised rule had an immediate impact on Huawei. For example, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer) stopped accepting any orders for Huawei in May following the new rule.

Huawei’s consumer business unit CEO Richard Yu, said the chips purchased from foreign semiconductor manufacturers that use US software and technology will stop production on September 15th. Without chips from foreign manufacturers, Huawei will no longer be able to manufacture their Kirin chips.

If you have any questions about Huawei or want to ensure you are not violating any export controls, contact David Hsu by phone/text anytime at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Hong Kong could lose special status and trade benefits.

May 31, 2020 By in China Security Law, Export, Hong Kong, Import, Import Export Attorney Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Last year, the US passed a law that requires Hong Kong to retain independence to qualify for the continued favorable trading terms with the US. I mentioned this in my blog post on June 15th, 2019 here.

The bill requires the US Secretary of State to certify each year that Hong Kong remains autonomous from China. If Hong Kong does not pass the certification of independence from China, then Hong Kong would lose trade privileges with the US (goods from Hong Kong will now be subject to duties on goods from China).

Fast forward almost a year later – where in late May China’s central government passed a national security law to apply to Hong Kong (as Hong Kong has not been able to pass such a law since they were handed back to China in 1997). The new security law would ban secession, subversion of state power, terrorism, foreign intervention and allows mainland China’s state security agencies to operate in the city.

After passage of the security law, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress that Hong Kong was no longer independent from China – signaling a potential move towards Hong Kong not passing certification.

If Hong Kong loses it’s special status a big impact would be on tariffs on goods from Hong Kong would now apply. This would impact over $66 billion in trade according to 2018 trade numbers. In 2018, Hong Kong was America’s third-largest market for wine, 4th largest for been and seventh largest for agricultural products.

If you have any questions how your imports or exports to and from Hong Kong may be impacted, contact David Hsu 24/7 by phone/text to 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Will new US export controls block Huawei’s 5G ambitions?

May 29, 2020 By in 5G, Export, Huawei, Import Export Attorney Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
Photo by Pok Rie on Pexels.com

As previously posted on my blog, the May 19th Commerce Department export rules are part of the US effort to limit Huawei’s access to semiconductor chips needed to build components in their 5G infrastructure. The new rules prohibit chipmakers located mostly in Taiwan and South Korea from using U.S. origin machines and software to produce semiconductors for Huawei.

Huawei relies on Taiwan and South Korean chipmakers to make the actual chips – however the chipmakers are now subject to the US export rules since the machines and software used are based off American machines from US companies and technology.

These new rules were meant to close a loophole that allowed semiconductor foundries to manufacture chips for Huawei as long as the manufacturing occurred outside of the U.S.

The U.S. government views Huawei as a national security threat because their hardware could potentially allow them to access sensitive information and hand it over to the Chinese government – a claim denied by Huawei.

If you have any questions how the new US export control regulations will impact your ability to do business with Huawei or one of its entities, contact export control attorney David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com, dh@gjatradelaw.com.

UK planning to remove Huawei equipment from its 5G networks.

May 23, 2020 By in 5G, Export, Huawei, UK, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

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Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

According to a Financial Times article, the UK is going to remove Huawei from their 5G network and make efforts to remove all Huawei components in the next 3 years. The move by the UK should be welcome news for the US, as Trump administration officials have been pressuring the UK to not use Huawei for their 5G network.

The US has argued that Huawei could build backdoors into network infrastructure and assist in spying efforts by the Chinese government. In the past, the US threatened intelligence efforts between the two countries could be limited if the UK does proceed with the Huawei 5G network.

The recent news developments shifts away from previous UK policy limiting how much Huawei equipment could be used in the 5G networks. Yesterday’s announcement signals a significant shift away.

Other online sources reporting the news also claim the UK response is partially due to public sentiment about China and their handling of the corona virus pandemic.

If your company exports to Huawei and have any questions about compliance with the changing export rules, contact David Hsu by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

US pork exports to China increase while US faces meat shortage.

May 6, 2020 By in covid-19, Export, pork, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

As part of Phase 1 of the US/China trade deal, China agreed to purchase more US goods and one such product has been pork to replace 1/3 of China’s hog population that was decimated in mid-2018 due to African swine fever. Besides pork, China also imported more US beef and poultry products after lifting a prior ban on US poultry. However, one downside of the Phase 1 trade deal has been exasperated by the meat processing plant closing as a result of COVID-19 infections. This has created the issue of too much meat being exported and not enough fresh meat being stocked in US grocery stores.

The U.S. meat shortage and the Phase 1 goals of increasing exports to China seem to be opposing forces, raising the question of whether sales and shipments will or should be limited. Some restrictions would not be surprising given U.S. President Donald Trump’s more combative tone in his recent comments on trade with China.

March 2020 saw the second highest volume of pork to China with the US exporting 95,892 tons, with a combined total of 280,507 tons of pork and pork product exported so far in 2020 (an increase of 300% over the first three months of 2019) with chicken feet being the largest exported US poultry item to China. The combined value of all pork, beef and poultry exports to China for January to March of 2020 totaled $781 million.

If you have any questions about the China trade deal or the 301 duties, contact David Hsu anytime by phone/text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Bill introduced to ban government employees from using Huawei, ZTE products.

May 2, 2020 By in compliance, Export, Export Administration Regulations, Huawei, Import Export Attorney, trade compliance, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

night skyline skyscrapers shanghai

Photo by Manuel Joseph on Pexels.com

Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley will introduce a bill banning US officials from using projects from Chinese companies that have been deemed to be national security threats. In the past, Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE have been deemed to be national security threats.

The proposed legislation is named the “Countering Chinese Attempts at Snooping Act” and would prohibit federal employees from conducting official business through technology from companies deemed by the State Department to be under the control of the Chinese government.

If passed, the bill would also require the State Department to create a list of companies supported by the Chinese company that could pose a threat and be used to conduct espionage.

This proposed legislation comes one month after President Trump signed into law legislation that barred the use of federal funds to purchase equipment from Huawei and ZTE.

If you have any questions about export compliance or think it’s time to revisit your compliance program, contact experienced compliance attorney David Hsu for a no-cost consultation by/phone or text at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.