Failures in import compliance were revealed in the Senate Finance Committee's report on two auto companies' imports of parts or cars containing parts made by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list (see 2405200009). But the report also exposed a weakness in CBP's ability to detect goods that should be detained under UFLPA, finding that Jaguar Land Rover imported spare parts that included LAN transformers made by a Chinese company on the entity list and only one manufacturer removed from the finished product.
Five products identified by the Biden administration as deserving 100% Section 301 tariffs for strategic reasons -- electric vans, buses, low-speed golf-cart like EVs, electric cars, and plug-in hybrids -- will see higher rates on Aug. 1.
Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas, who led the committee when the major tax cuts were written and passed during the Trump administration, is joining Akin's lobbying practice. Brian Pomper, former chief international trade counsel when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., led the committee, now is co-lead of the lobbying practice. He said: "With the novel USMCA review process starting in earnest next year and the need to navigate difficult trade issues like the Section 301 tariffs on China, Brady’s distinguished career at the forefront of shaping trade policy will bring unparalleled perspective and insight to our clients at a critical time.”
A Federal Register notice that will be made public this week will announce decisions on which of the current Section 301 tariff exclusions can continue, according to Brian Janovitz, chief counsel for China trade enforcement in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The automotive industry's inadequate due diligence controls for Uyghur forced labor make it complicit in the abuse, the Senate Finance Committee charged in a report that criticizes three customers of a firm on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list -- Volkswagen, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover.
American, German and British environmental and trade politics experts agreed at an American-German Institute event on "Squaring the Transatlantic Circle" on climate policy that although it seems like Western Europe and the U.S. should be united on goals and interests, their economic competition and even pride stand in the way.
Many importers who were hit with Section 301 tariffs six years ago expected they would be rolled back in 18 months or two or three years, said Nicole Bivens Collinson, director of Sandler Travis's international trade and government relations practice. Then, once that didn't happen, they thought they'd see what happened in the Biden administration.
A bipartisan effort has begun to undo Treasury rulemaking that allows automakers a longer period to move away from Chinese graphite and other critical minerals, and allows them to continue to use rollup methodology to calculate the percentage of qualifying critical minerals (see 2405030060).
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Senate appropriators that a proposed rule on connected vehicles should come out in the fall.
The exclusion from solar safeguard tariffs for bifacial solar panels -- originally meant to help utility-scale installations -- is about to end, the Biden administration announced May 16.