More than 80% of cargo is now moving around the Cape of Good Hope due to Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea and low Panama Canal water levels (see 2312200045), Nathan Strang, a director of ocean freight at Flexport, said during a Jan. 18 company webinar.
The Automotive Industry Action Group, a forum for auto industry companies to collaborate on supply chain and corporate responsibility issues, is vetting service providers that say they can provide visibility deep into supply chains, as well as educating companies that may not realize how urgent it is to uncover whether any of their suppliers' suppliers have a nexus to Uyghur labor in China.
NEW YORK -- The Court of International Trade held oral argument on Jan. 18 in Chinese exporter Ninestar's case challenging its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, addressing the company's motion for a preliminary injunction against its listing and its bid to unseal and unredact the record in the case (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
The World Customs Organization is considering changes to the tariff nomenclature that underlies the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. and over 200 other country tariff schedules around the world to potentially make classification easier and allow for more detail and accuracy in the identification of goods.
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 16 sent back CBP's finding that importer Columbia Aluminum Products' door thresholds evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu said CBP, in both the final evasion decision and an administrative review of the decision, committed "multiple errors, both of fact and of law." The judge said CBP didn't have evidence on its side in making the evasion finding, nor did it properly initiate the investigation.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says that her agency and Congress "will need to work closely together" to address the fact that "existing rules of origin have left openings" for Chinese firms with operations outside China to avoid Section 301 tariffs and, depending where the operations occur, benefit from free trade agreements.
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Trade and economic policy experts are expecting the U.S. to emphasize tariffs as part of its economic security toolkit this year, which could lead to new duties on Chinese electric vehicles and other critical industries sometime in 2025.
Allowing the financing companies that own leased vehicles to claim tax credits irrespective of where electric vehicles and their batteries were made, and lengthening the timeline to cut China out of battery and critical mineral supply chains, runs contrary to the Inflation Reduction Act, argued Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, and the ranking member of the committee, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
The shorter time frame for filing type 86 entries announced by CBP Jan. 12 is likely intended to allow the agency to target de minimis shipments in advance and give it more time to complete its targeting processes, said customs brokers asked about the policy change.