An apparel factory owner and a trade policy professional from the apparel industry said it's critical to renew Haitian trade preferences this year, even though they don't expire for 14 months.
The House Ways and Means Committee passed a resolution to undo Treasury Department guidelines on foreign entity of concern involvement in electric vehicle supply chains. The committee passed the bill July 9 on a 25-14 vote.
Days after the House speaker said he wished to move a bill that would end de minimis eligibility for products subject to Section 301 tariffs (see 2407080049), the ranking member and other Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee said the idea has merit.
Tariff carve-outs for Mexican steel and aluminum in the Section 232 action will be curtailed, so that only steel that is melted and poured in North America can qualify, and so that aluminum that was smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus but worked again in Mexico will be taxed at higher rates.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, are asking CBP to explain how it will enforce a condition for importers of solar panels from Southeast Asia, which is that panels that entered during a two-year pause on antidumping deposits be installed within 180 days of entry.
The administration has added seafood, PVC, which is used in vinyl flooring, and aluminum to its priority enforcement sectors under the Ugyhur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it announced in its strategy update this week. This is the first time priority sectors have been added since the law went into effect two years ago; the original priority sectors of apparel, cotton products, polysilicon and solar panels made from polysilicon, and tomatoes remain.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called for a "legislative fix" to the de minimis exception "and the exploitation of that exception," the first time the administration has clearly said it hopes Congress will restrict the program that allows purchasers to import up to $800 worth of goods per day without paying tariffs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said July 8 that he hopes to have a "significant package of China-related legislation" signed into law this year, including a provision that moved out of the House Ways and Means Committee that would make goods subject to Section 301 tariffs ineligible for de minimis treatment. All goods from China would have to enter with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification code upon entry so that CBP could enforce the law. That bill also included new penalties for de minimis violations beyond forfeiture of the package (see 2404180068). Johnson said these changes would "rein in the de minimis privilege" that China is exploiting.
Sourcemap, an international firm that offers supply chain tracing and mapping services, said its government sources are saying that more companies will be added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List before the end of the year -- and that automotive companies and consumer electronics are in the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force's crosshairs.
A former top trade negotiator in Mexico, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, said he doesn't think the review of the USMCA will be about fine-tuning or technical changes to the trade pact.