Starting in November, a number of domestic and internationalNew rules on foreign tradeEffective from the commencement of thecross-border tradeFacilitation, green trade, countriestariff adjustmentand cross-border e-commerce compliance, among many others.

I. New domestic regulations

1. New policy on foreign exchange facilitation for cross-border trade: the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued a circular introducing a package of facilitation measures.

Policy Optimization and Expansion: The pilot areas for high-level liberalization of cross-border trade will be further expanded to cover more areas with real needs, good compliance status and in line with the direction of national strategies.

Reducing the cost of capital settlement: broadening the types of business of the pilot enterprises' capital roll-over netting, allowing the payment for goods to be rolled over with the related transportation, storage, maintenance and other costs, and reducing the number of times and costs of cross-border capital receipts and payments.

Supporting new trade business: guiding banks to provide convenient remittance collection and payment services for cross-border e-commerce and other new trade business subjects based on the electronic transaction information provided by e-commerce platforms or foreign trade integrated service enterprises.

(c) Enhancing the efficiency of trade in services: relaxing the management of service trade advances, so that contracted engineering enterprises can centralize the deployment and use of overseas funds across countries and regions, and revitalize overseas ”deposited” funds.

2. The first special policy in the field of green trade was launched: the Ministry of Commerce issued the Implementing Opinions on Expanding Green Trade.

Enhancement of enterprises' green capabilities: Encourage foreign trade enterprises to use renewable energy sources and undertake equipment upgrading and process modifications to reduce the carbon footprint of their products.

Promoting the greening of logistics: Promoting the transfer of foreign trade cargo transportation from public to rail and from public to water, and encouraging the use of clean-energy transportation vehicles and ships.

Financial standards support: Include green trade in the scope of green financial support and accelerate the establishment of green low-carbon standards and carbon footprint databases in line with international standards.

3. Strengthening of export controls on selected products

Since November 8, China has implemented strict **export license management** for the whole rare earth industry chain, and introduced the ”0.1% threshold” mechanism, i.e., overseas products containing controlled components of Chinese origin up to 0.1% or above are required to apply for an export license. At the same time, lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials have also been included in the scope of export control.

II. New foreign regulations

1. United States

High tariffs on port equipment: Since November 9, an additional tariff of 100% has been imposed on selected Chinese-made port equipment (e.g. ship-to-shore cranes, container chassis trucks, etc.).

New tariffs on trucks and parts: from November 1, a tariff of 251 TP3T on imported medium and heavy trucks and parts thereof, and an additional tariff of 101 TP3T on imported passenger cars. There is a 90-day window of exemption for some of the additional tariffs on items such as trucks, suspended until November 10th.

Partial Tariff Exemption Extension: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) extended until November 29, 2025, the Section 301 tariff exemptions for 164 products targeting Chinese...

2. Chile

Eliminate VAT exemption for small parcels: Eliminate the VAT exemption policy for parcels under $41. For all cross-border direct shipping orders valued at $0-$500, buyers are required to prepay 19% of import VAT.

3. Brazil

New Trademark Protection Rules: Since November 28, trademarks that lack ”inherent distinctiveness” can be protected by providing evidence of use to prove that they have ”acquired distinctiveness”, bringing trademark examination practices closer to international standards.

4. European Union

CBAM Exemption Mechanism: The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) introduces a ”single mass threshold” exemption mechanism, whereby applicable commodities (e.g., iron and steel, aluminum) with annual imports of less than 50 tons are exempted from reporting obligations.

POTENTIAL NEW RULES ON NEW ENERGY VEHICLES: The European Union is mulling new rules that could require Chinese firms selling new energy vehicles in its market to hand over core secrets such as battery technology and control systems, and to make heavy use of local European workers and components. This draft is still under discussion.

5. United Arab Emirates

Cross-border e-commerce VAT: Since November 1, a VAT of 51 TP3T has been levied on cross-border e-commerce parcels valued at more than Dh150 (about $41), which previously started at Dh1,000.

6. Japan and Korea

Under the framework of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), China, Japan and South Korea have continued to cut tariffs since November, covering auto parts and agricultural products. For example, tariffs on Japanese fruit exports to China will be reduced from 8% to 4%, and the rate on auto parts will be reduced from 10% to 5%.

South Korea's Ministry of Finance has decided to cut fuel tax exemptions from November and extend tax breaks for gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG butane) until the end of December 2025, according to a report by the Ministry of Finance.