Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 28-31 in case they were missed.

China is investigating complaints from U.S. exporters about Chinese customs clearances, including accusations of slower processing, increased inspections and inexplicable delays in licensing approval, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said during a June 2 press conference. Wang said he did not know if the complaints were about “a real or specific situation,” according to an unofficial translation of his comments, but some U.S. exporters allege the moves are another step in China’s 2018 threat to take retaliatory measures against the U.S. that extend beyond tariff hikes (see 1905290041).

China opened an investigation into FedEx after it said the shipping company “failed to deliver” packages to certain addresses in China, state-media reported June 1. China suspects FedEx of “undermining the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese clients,” the report said, damaging the rights and interests of FedEx’s clients and violating industry laws.

China is creating a list to penalize foreign entities that damage the interests of Chinese companies, a sweeping but vague move widely viewed as a direct response to U.S.’s recent blacklisting of Huawei Technologies.

The temporary general license issued by the U.S. after it added Huawei Technologies to its Entity List has offered “almost no relief” for the U.S. semiconductor industry, which has been hurt severely by the move, said John Neuffer, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Speaking on U.S.-China trade issues at a Washington International Trade Association discussion on May 29, Neuffer underscored the importance of the Chinese market to U.S. semiconductor exporters and called on the Trump administration to more tactfully negotiate with China. “We would like the U.S. government to better balance its national security concerns with its economic security concerns,” Neuffer said.

The Trump administration warned Europe that anyone associated with the creation of the Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX, could face U.S. sanctions, according to a May 29 report from Bloomberg. The report cites a May 7 letter from Treasury Department official Sigal Mandelker to INSTEX President Per Fischer. “I urge you to carefully consider the potential sanctions exposure of Instex,” Mandelker, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in the letter, according to Bloomberg. “Engaging in activities that run afoul of U.S. sanctions can result in severe consequences, including a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.”

China is finding ways other than tariff increases to retaliate against U.S. exporters, further damaging the U.S.’s struggling agricultural export sector, panelists said during a Washington International Trade Association discussion on U.S.-China trade. The expected retaliation from China -- along with stalled trade negotiations and the increased difficulty of accessing China’s markets -- could lead to crippling, long-term consequences for some U.S. exporters, the panelists said.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 20-24 in case they were missed.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a “finding of violation” against U.S.-based State Street Bank and Trust Co. (SSBT) after it violated U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran, OFAC said in a May 28 notice. The bank was not fined, OFAC said, partly because the bank’s managers were likely unaware of the violations and because the bank cooperated with OFAC and improved its compliance program.

The Mexican Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit is proposing a new draft customs law that would streamline current requirements and take measures against corruption in the Mexican General Administration of Customs, according to a May 28 report in the Mexican newspaper El Economista.