China Tariffs
The Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service states that effective Jan. 1, 2026, China eliminated the tentative most-favored-nation tariff rates previously applied to fresh and dried cranberries and specific types of frozen fish. These tariff rates for these products will thus revert to their standard MFN levels of 30 percent for fresh cranberries (HS 0810.40.00), 25 percent for dried cranberries (HS 0813.40.90), and seven percent for frozen fishery products (HS 0303.45.10, 0303.45.20, and 0303.46.00).
FAS notes that each year China’s State Council Tariff Commission announces tentative import and export tariff rates for select commodities that are effective for the following year. These tentative rates, which are typically lower than standard MFN tariffs, remain in effect until the SCTC terminates them. China currently applies tentative MFN tariff rates to 935 tariff lines.
EU Organics Regulation
The FAS reports that on Dec. 16, 2025, the European Commission published a proposal to revise the European Union Organic Regulation, which entered into force four years ago. FAS states that the aspects of this proposal that will impact the U.S. include (1) postponing the deadline for the transformation of equivalency arrangements into trade agreements from Dec. 31, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2036, to give the Commission time to conclude technical exchanges with third countries to avoid disruptions in the trade of EU organic products, and (2) allowing the use of the EU organic logo on labels of goods imported from third countries only if those products, already covered by an equivalency arrangement, comply with additional production and control requirements.
Poultry
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has imposed restrictions on imports of avian commodities from Kagawa prefecture (effective Jan. 10) and Mie prefecture (effective Jan. 13) in Japan due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza.
These restrictions include the following.
- Importation of poultry, commercial birds, ratites, avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian products and byproducts, and certain fresh poultry products is prohibited.
- Importation as cargo of processed avian products and byproducts must be accompanied by an APHIS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the goods were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements.
- Importation as cargo of fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (e.g., liquid eggs and dried egg whites) is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required in such cases.
Separately, APHIS has removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from the following areas in Canada as of Jan. 14.
- zones PCZ-FV1, PCZ-FV2, and PCZ-309 in British Columbia, zones PCZ-291 and PCZ-301 in Saskatchewan, and zone PCZ-311 in Manitoba
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