The Commerce Department will open an investigation to decide whether imports of cranes from Austria, Germany, Japan and other countries are imperiling national security. The Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct the investigation and request comments in a coming notice, it said.
Politicians whose constituents work at electrical steel mills hailed the news that electrical steel cores and laminations used to make transformers, as well as transformers and transformer regulators, are going to be subject to a Section 232 investigation (see 2005040059). Three of the four senators from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and a Pennsylvania congressman, lauded the administration for considering further protection for AK Steel, which was acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs in March. Once imported electrical steel was subject to 25% tariffs, AK Steel said imports of downstream products made from this kind of steel increased.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, when asked about a legislative proposal that would prevent tariff payments to customs brokers from being clawed back in bankruptcy, said, “I’ve never given it any thought.” Grassley, who was speaking on a phone call with reporters May 5, didn't know that customs brokers face this problem when a client declares bankruptcy and the broker serves as a pass-through agent for tariffs. “It seems to me that in most bankruptcies the government’s first in line to recapture what the government is owed,” he said. The National Customs Brokers& Forwarders Association of America has been trying to get the proposal to be included in the next round of COVID-19 relief (see 2003200030), and International Trade Today asked Grassley whether he would support its inclusion.
Importers who have goods arriving this month or next cannot benefit from the 90-day tariff deferral the administration offered, even if they had the same sort of sharp drop in revenue that made them eligible before. Republican senators, who are back in Washington to discuss another round of relief legislation, expressed some interest in extending that program through statute, during hallway interviews with International Trade Today before entering the weekly caucus lunch. The Trump administration allowed for deferred regular customs duty payments on entries for March and April (see 2004300048).
The Congressional Research Service, in a May 1 report, noted that Congress may want to turn its attention to the U.S.-Kenya negotiations not only because of the free trade agreement's potential economic effects, but also because of mandates in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) -- Kenya is the second-largest beneficiary of AGOA when oil is excluded.
The International Trade Commission identified 112 tariff lines in a report on goods needed to fight COVID-19, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., is asking that all duties be suspended for 90 days on those goods. The majority of the 112 tariff lines are covered neither by Section 301 nor by Most Favored Nation duties, so are currently duty free.
The administration plans to restrict the import of equipment used for bulk-power system substations, control rooms, or power generating stations, including reactors, capacitors, substation transformers, current coupling capacitors, large generators, backup generators, substation voltage regulators, shunt capacitor equipment, automatic circuit reclosers, instrument transformers, coupling capacity voltage transformers, protective relaying, metering equipment, high voltage circuit breakers, generation turbines, industrial control systems, distributed control systems, and safety instrumented systems, the White House announced May 1.
Washington state's senators and Rep. Suzan DelBene and Rep. Rick Larsen, both New Democrats, asked President Donald Trump to fix the Section 232 exclusion system, blaming it for 700 layoffs in Ferndale, Washington, at an Alcoa plant. They said in a letter, released May 1, “It is evident that your Administration’s approach to Chinese overcapacity so far has not had its intended effect, and we urge you to prioritize resolving this issue.” They pointed to The Aluminum Association's April 22 letter (see 2004240036) to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as a guide to follow. They also complained that the trade deal with China does nothing to address overcapacity and state-owned enterprises.
In a detailed five-page letter, the fashion industry is asking for broader application of government subsidies to businesses, flexibility in trade regulations, tax breaks, and billions of dollars in funding for day care facilities.
At the southern border, not every document can be processed electronically yet, but they're working on it, the CBP Laredo Field Office told traders on a conference call May 1. Documents including meat certificates, phytosanitary certificates, bovine paperwork, and CITES certificates are still needed in paper form. Assistant Director of Field Operations Armando Taboada asked those listening to make sure the drivers and runners coming to the Texas port wear masks. “I know Gov. [Greg] Abbott relaxed a little bit of the requirements,” he said, but added, “It’s for our own health and safety, for all of us.” He said most drivers are wearing masks, but there are a few stragglers.