CBP updated its recent guidance on Section 232 tariffs to remove tariff schedule numbers that had apparently been erroneously included as subject to steel and aluminum tariffs.

Expert witnesses testified that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule code needs to be refined so that different sizes of semiconductor chips have their own numbers, and, more radically, suggested that the best way to mitigate overdependence on China for legacy chips is to require importers to report where the chips were designed and fabricated within products they are importing.

As importers respond to swift changes in the deployment of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 2506030071), they should continue to follow due diligence protocols for entry filing -- and that means even when CBP's guidance on additional subheadings for Section 232 steel and aluminum duties doesn't fully align with what's in official documents, such as the Federal Register, multiple customs attorneys told International Trade Today.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, after receiving critiques over 10% tariffs on bananas and tariffs on Asian food imports from House Appropriations Committee members, said that countries that sell "unavailable natural resources" like bananas, cocoa, coffee and spices will be allowed to export those goods duty-free, as long as they don't have barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.

Given an increase in Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 2506030071), it may be less costly for importers to no longer take advantage of an exemption from tariffs on autos and auto parts for USMCA goods, according to a tariff expert at supply chain logistics platform Flexport.

Two Republican senators on the Appropriations Committee whose states have major foreign automakers' factories asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick if the administration would support an export credit for major auto exporters. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., referred to the fact that about two-thirds of the Mercedes vehicles assembled in Alabama are exported, and asked if an export credit is still under discussion.

CBP listed new Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings as subject to now 50% Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, in attachments to its CSMS messages issued late June 3 offering guidance on the tariff increase.

Widespread problems with transmitting foreign-trade zone entries are one of several technical problems that plague customs brokers and compliance managers as the effects of the Trump administration's rapid policy changes make themselves felt. Compounding the difficulties is the administration's decision to pull back from engagement with the trade industry through its Trade Support Network and the cancellation of bi-weekly ACE calls.

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President Donald Trump said that although the 25% tariffs on steel, and the recently hiked aluminum tariffs, have "helped provide critical price support" to domestic producers, the rates are not high enough to enable them "to develop and maintain the rates of capacity production utilization that are necessary for the industries' sustained health and for projected national defense needs." So those rates will increase to 50% at 12:01 a.m. EDT June 4.