South Korea officially removed Japan from its list of trusted trading partners, according to a report from The Hankyoreh. The report cited comments from Lee Ho-hyeon, South Korea’s director general of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Trade Policy Bureau, who said the move took effect Sept. 18.

China will ban hog and boar imports from South Korea after the country recently confirmed cases of African swine fever, according to a Sept. 19 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The ban will include increased quarantine checks on packages and passenger baggage from South Korea, the report said, and the country will detain and seal off any containers or vehicles containing hog or boar-related products from South Korea found inside China.

China increased its meat market supply by releasing 10,000 tons of pork from its central reserves, saying it can guarantee the country’s meat supply through increased meat imports and its “high level” of frozen meat inventory, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Sept. 19, according to an unofficial translation of a news release. China said it will continue “to release pork from central reserves as appropriate to guarantee supply of pork in the market,” according to a report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. The announcement came as U.S. farmers, pork producers and meat exporters continue to face shrinking export markets in China due to the trade war. China recently announced it would add pork to its list of tariff exemptions of U.S. goods (see 1909130013). Also factoring into the reserves release are the upcoming Oct. 1 National Day observances in China, and curtailed domestic pork availability due to “an epidemic of African swine fever that has cut domestic pig production, pushing up demand for pork imports,” according to another Xinhua report.

A U.S. decoupling from China would be a mistake, China’s U.S. ambassador said, criticizing what he called the U.S.’s alarmist foreign policy and its “wrong rationale” for starting a trade war with China. Ambassador Cui Tiankai said decoupling may not even be possible because of the “inseparable links” between the two countries. “And considering China’s advantages in cost, market and supply chain and its growing edge in innovation, to decouple from China is to decouple from opportunities,” Cui said, speaking Sept. 17 in New York.

The World Trade Organization on Sept. 16 released South Korea’s most recent complaint against Japan in which it requests consultations over the two sides’ trade dispute. The document, dated Sept. 11, outlines South Korea’s issues with Japan’s export restrictions on three chemicals used in the manufacturing of smartphones, TV displays and semiconductors. South Korea said Japan’s restrictions were politically motivated and “unrelated to any legitimate export control considerations.” South Korea also said Japan’s additional moves, including its decision to remove South Korea from a list of trusted trading partners, has caused “unnecessary delay” and “increased scrutiny” for products destined for South Korea. South Korea said it hopes to find a “mutually acceptable date for consultations” with Japan to address the issues.

Certain features of Singapore’s TradeNet will be unavailable from 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Oct. 6 due to scheduled system maintenance, Singapore Customs said in a Sept. 18 notice. Just the applications "involving amendment, cancellation, refund and stock related permit applications" will not be processed during that time, Singapore Customs said. This system maintenance is in addition to regular maintenance performed on Sundays.

Indonesia will ban nickel exports beginning Jan. 1, 2020, instead of the originally proposed date in 2022, according to a Sept. 17 blog post by Baker McKenzie. The ban, announced by the country’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, will “apply to all different types of nickel” and not “just nickel ore with certain percentages,” the post said. The ban is expected to be cleared by Indonesia’s Ministry of Law and Human Rights before taking effect, the post said.

China is planning to strengthen its export controls through a new law that may be implemented this year, according to a Sept. 16 Lexology post from AnJie Law Firm.

China is amending measures surrounding its food safety inspections regime, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a Sept. 17 report. Random food safety inspections will be defined as "regulatory, risk-related or evaluatory as is deemed appropriate" given "varying priorities accorded individual inspections," HKTDC said. The revised provisions also clarify that all impromptu inspections must be selected randomly, revise China’s re-inspection procedures and more. The changes take effect Oct. 1.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service released on Sept. 13 a report on China’s second round of tariff exclusions, including a list of eligible products, eligible applicants, how to apply for exemptions and their scope of eligibility. The report includes translations of the more than 400 tariff lines of U.S. agricultural goods that are eligible for exemption. Applications for exclusions are being accepted by China's Ministry of Finance through Oct. 18, 2019.