Researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies expect the U.S. will get "a taste of its own medicine” when China appeals its loss over Section 232 retaliatory tariffs at the World Trade Organization, adding that China likely won't have to drop the tariffs since there is no appellate body to take that appeal.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a "voluntary cybersecurity labeling program" for Internet of Things (IoT) devices that would provide "easily understood" and "accessible information" to consumers about the security of their IoT devices, the agency said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is issuing a final rule listing the sand dune phacelia (Phacelia argentea), a plant species from coastal southern Oregon and northern California, as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing includes a 4(d) rule for these species that prohibits importation and exportation without a permit. New import and export restrictions set by the agency’s final rule take effect Sept. 21.

The Fish and Wildlife Service on Aug. 17 released a final rule listing the magnificent ramshorn (Planorbella magnifica), a freshwater snail species from southeastern North Carolina, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. New import and export restrictions set by the agency’s final rule take effect Sept. 18.

The Drug Enforcement Administration permanently placed the synthetic benzimidazol-opioid metonitazene on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, it said in a final order released Aug. 17. The substance had already been temporarily listed in Schedule I since 2022 (see 2204110029). The final order is set to take effect Sept. 18.

The Commerce, State and Labor departments highlighted South Sudan’s cattle industry as a forced labor risk in an updated business advisory released this week. The Labor Department said it has a “reasonable basis to believe” cattle sourced from the country is produced by “forced or indentured child labor,” calling the sector a “significant industry in South Sudan with potential to expose U.S. business and individuals to significant reputational and legal risks.”

Whirlpool, the company that brought antidumping and countervailing duty complaints and then a safeguard petition against imported washing machines, did not gain market share, add workers or increase wages for its workers as a result of the safeguard's tariff rate quotas, the International Trade Commission found.

While most shippers applauded the Federal Maritime Commission’s revised proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct, carriers urged the commission to again amend the wording, saying it unfairly favors exporters and stretches beyond the authority granted to the FMC by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022. Several major carriers said the commission should narrow the rule’s proposed definition for “unreasonableness,” allow carriers to rely on “legitimate business factors” as a reason for why they may refuse cargo space, remove the rule's documented export policy requirement and revise other proposals they say disadvantage carriers.

Importers should be careful when combining several goods into a single shipment, which can save them money in fees but also present some complications, Flexport executives said during an Aug. 2 webinar hosted by the company.

The Biden administration needs a more “credible, durable economic strategy” in the Indo-Pacific than the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, such as one that involves formal trade agreements, said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In a July 31 commentary for CSIS, Goodman, a former National Security Council official, said IPEF’s “greatest promise” is “as an incubator for new or revised provisions of a formal trade agreement in the Indo-Pacific region,” including one that includes new or updated chapters on labor, environment, digital standards, supply chain resilience and economic coercion.