Perkins Coie partner Michael House told an audience of automotive supply chain professionals that this fiscal year has seen not only a sharp increase in the number of detentions, "but even more important, in our view, is the scope of products being detained has diversified, and there's been a steady increase in detentions of merchandise that were outside those original so-called priority sectors."

The Commerce Department abused its discretion by denying an exporter’s supplemental questionnaire extension request amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s 2021 delta variant wave, Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden ruled April 25. He pointed out that, by the time of the rejection, three of Simec’s key accountants had died of the disease and a fourth was "hospitalized and intubated."

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, during a Q&A with Reuters, said that China has acknowledged that its manufacturing overcapacity is a problem, but she said observers shouldn't expect a quick fix.

If the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative decides that China's subsidies to its shipbuilding industry burden U.S. commerce through a range of unreasonable or discriminatory acts, a coalition of unions suggests it impose a fee on Chinese ships arriving at U.S. ports (see 2404170029). During a Washington International Trade Association webinar on the new Section 301 investigation, former USTR associate general counsel David Ross said China's subsidies are evident but the remedy is not.

A career staffer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative whose portfolio includes the auto industry told an audience of auto industry supply chain professionals that it's likely the U.S. will be talking with Mexico about the increased foreign direct investment from Chinese companies manufacturing auto parts or, potentially, assembling vehicles, in Mexico.

A group of U.S. solar panel producers is seeking new antidumping and countervailing duty orders on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules from the same four Southeast Asian countries that Commerce recently found were circumventing AD/CVD on solar cells from China (see 2308180044).

Hemp cones, tubes and wraps marketed for use with “tobacco-free herbal blends” and featuring warning statements that they shouldn’t be used with illegal drugs or tobacco aren’t restricted merchandise and may be imported into the U.S., CBP said in a recent ruling.

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Former top officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during the Trump and Biden administrations said there will be no return to a pre-Trumpian, pro-free trade philosophy, whether Joe Biden wins re-election this fall or Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025.

FORT LAUDERDALE -- While CBP's Entry Type 86 pilot has allowed customs brokers to handle low value shipments, the agency also is seeing filers "abusing" the test by filing unverified data and pricing out other brokers who can't compete with the low fees the bad actors are charging, said CBP acting Commissioner Troy Miller in remarks at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference April 17.