President Donald Trump shared the text of his "offer letters" to Japan and South Korea, telling those countries' leaders that goods from their countries will be subject to 25% tariffs, beginning Aug. 1. Back in April, he had said a 24% reciprocal tariff rate would apply to Japanese goods, and a 25% rate would apply for South Korean goods, with those rates briefly taking effect before being delayed until July 9.

The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register July 3 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):

The International Trade Commission found that imports of vanillin from China injure a U.S. industry, paving the way for antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders, the agency announced June 30. It issued this final determination following a Commerce Department finding that imports from China are sold in the U.S. at less than fair value and are subsidized by the Chinese government (see 2506050033 and 2506050035). As a result, the Commerce Department will issue an AD order and a CVD order on imports of this product from China.

On July 2, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:

The House of Representatives passed a tax bill, 218-214, that includes language that will end de minimis eligibility for all e-commerce, beginning July 1, 2027. The bill, which also extends individual and pass-through business tax breaks passed during the first Trump administration, now heads to the president's desk.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's recent ruling in a trade-related False Claims Act case likely will create more customs fraud enforcement led by private parties and should lead importers to be extra wary that they are complying with U.S. trade laws, various laws firms said. The case is Island Industries v. Sigma Corp. (9th Cir. # 22-55063).

A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website July 2, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.

CBP created Harmonized System Update 2527 on July 3, containing 24 Automated Broker Interface records and six Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. It includes Partner Government Agency updates and miscellaneous tariff adjustments required by verification of the 2025 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. In support of the PGA Message Set, the AM8 AMS (Agricultural Marketing Service) tariff flag was removed from HTS subheadings 0901.11.0040, 0901.21.0020 and 0901.21.0049.

CBP has released its July 2 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 27), which includes the following ruling actions:

Sidley trade lawyer Ted Murphy sent a note to clients about his thoughts on the U.S.-Vietnam tariff deal announced July 2 "based on what we (think we) know about the deal thus far," though he noted that the deal is likely still being negotiated.