The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will increase tariffs to 15% on aircraft from the European Union and made some other changes to 25% tariffs as part of the Airbus dispute, the agency said in a news release. A USTR notice outlined the tariff changes. The aircraft tariffs will increase on March 18, while other changes take effect on March 5. Prune juice will be removed from the list, and butcher's knives from England and Germany will be added, but the other products on the list will stay the same.

The Court of International Trade on Feb. 13 issued an injunction barring CBP from collecting new Section 232 tariffs on finished steel and aluminum products form a single importer, PrimeSource. The preliminary injunction says CBP cannot collect “duty deposits” on PrimeSource’s entries of goods covered by the tariffs, which took effect Jan. 8, and sets bonding requirements until CIT enters final judgment in the case. The preliminary injunction results from an agreement between the government and PrimeSource nine days after the lawsuit was filed.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued four new exclusions from the first tranche of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, it said in a notice. The exclusions apply retroactively to July 6, 2018 and will expire on Oct. 2, it said. The agency also adjusted tariff subheadings and made other "technical amendments" to previously issued exclusions.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions cover products from the third list of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions are reflected "in 2 10-digit HTSUS subheadings, which cover 52 requests, and 117 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 156 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 31 that mandates CBP work toward new criteria for obtaining importer of record numbers, and new consequences for customs brokers that help importers evade those criteria. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to "issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish criteria importers must meet in order to obtain an importer of record number," and says one of those criteria must be that CBP debarment or suspension for reasons related to trade renders an importer ineligible.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security posted the two annexes from the recently announced expansion of Section 232 tariffs on goods made from steel and aluminum. The annex for aluminum products lists six subheadings covering types of wire and automobile stampings. The annex for the steel products includes four subheadings that cover types of nails, tacks and automobile stampings.

The Court of International Trade issued a decision late on Jan. 24 finding recent CBP regulations limiting the amount of drawback that can be claimed on excise taxes were "unlawful." The court held that a final rule issued by CBP in December 2018 that aimed to prevent so-called “double drawback” contradicts the legal framework created by Congress for drawback.

The government will impose an additional 25 percent tariffs on some steel articles and 10 percent on some aluminum products starting Feb. 8, President Donald Trump said in a proclamation released late on Jan. 24. The new tariffs are because there has been an import surge in some products made from steel and aluminum, and because domestic capacity has not risen as much as expected from the 232 tariff action, it said.

The Senate passed the U.S-Canada-Mexico Agreement, the replacement for NAFTA, with an 89-10 vote. Now the implementing bill heads to President Donald Trump's desk to be signed. The Canadian parliament must also still ratify the agreement.

The 15 percent tariffs on goods from China included on list 4A will be reduced to 7.5 percent thirty days from today, a Trump administration official said during a Jan. 15 conference call with reporters. President Donald Trump previously announced the decrease, but it was not mentioned in materials released as part of the Phase One deal signed with China. A Federal Register notice on the reduction will be posted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative soon, the official said.