President Donald Trump's 2018 proclamation increasing the Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey violated "the animating statute and constitutional guarantees," a three-judge Court of International Trade panel said in a July 14 decision. The judges found that the proclamation fell outside the required time limits for making changes and Trump "acted without a proper report and recommendation by the [Commerce] Secretary on the national security threat posed by imports of steel products from Turkey."

French champagne and cheeses will be spared if the Trump administration retaliates for a promised Digital Services Tax in France, but makeup and handbags will be hit with a 25 percent tariff, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced July 10. U.S. buyers imported $1.3 billion worth of these goods in 2019, so the tariffs would be about $325 million if similar amounts were imported in 2021. The USTR said the DST is estimated to collect about $450 million from U.S. companies for the 2020 tax year.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "61 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 86 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.

Some 100 exclusions from the first group of Section 301 tariffs will expire on July 9, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reached a decision not to extend them, USTR said in a notice. The exclusions, found in U.S. Note 20(n) to subchapter III of Chapter 99 of the tariff schedule and entered under subheading 9903.88.11, had been created by USTR in July 2019.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "two ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 32 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 55 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.

CBP released its long-awaited proposal to update customs broker regulations. Among other changes CBP proposes to "update the responsible supervision and control oversight framework, ensure that customs business is conducted within the United States, and require that the customs broker have direct communication with the importer." Broker license application fees would also be increased under the proposal.

The Office of the U.S. Representative posted the final implementing regulations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, covering the interpretation, application, and administration of rules of origin, textiles, and customs and trade facilitation.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes that were either adopted or under consideration by multiple governments, the agency said in a June 2 news release. The investigations are focused on Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, it said.

President Donald Trump said that the administration will begin the process of revoking Hong Kong's differential treatment from China, including its more lenient "export controls on dual-use technologies, with few exceptions."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another group of product exclusions from the third group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "seventeen 10-digit HTSUS subheadings, which respond to 33 separate exclusion requests, and 61 specially prepared product descriptions, which respond to 70 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the third set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.