The Trans-Pacific Partnership will help reduce entry times, provide better information for exporters, and modernize sanitary and phytosanitary trade practices, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Director for Japan and Korea James Fatheree said during a panel discussion in Washington March 30. His words echoed findings in an analysis of the TPP by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (see 1603220062), which projected removal of non-tariff barriers will have a bigger impact on TPP member states than tariff reductions. “It helps reduce the time it takes to get goods into the market once they’ve landed,” Fatheree said during the event, hosted by the Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy on Capitol Hill. “That’s all good stuff. There was not, unfortunately, any provisions for cross-TPP de minimis standards, which would’ve been something that would help, I think, overall.”
Clear timelines, greater legal transparency, and advance tariff rulings required within the customs regimes of Trans-Pacific Partnership member countries could have a larger role than the pact’s tariff reductions in sparking trade and enhancing supply chains, according to an analysis of the TPP published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (here). While TPP contains several important customs provisions, it stops short of setting deadlines for countries to implement World Customs Organization standards and to start using a single automated entry point, said the think tank. Some customs provisions also contain weak implementation language, as words like “endeavor” and “encourage,” ostensibly instead of language like “require” and “must,” frequently appear, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 7 - March 11 in case they were missed.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP will handle shipments valued under $800 as below the de minimis threshold, starting March 10, CBP said in a CSMS message (here). As of that date, "shipments valued at $800 or less will be eligible for release under the same processes and with the same restrictions as currently apply for de minimis shipments of $200 or less," said CBP. The change follows the new customs reauthorization law that set the higher de minimis level (see 1602260049).
CBP and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative haven’t heard “any bicker or pushback” from Congressional committees recently briefed by the agencies on potential changes to the merchandise processing fee, said an industry executive that is following the issue. As expected (see 1601280044), the proposal calls for a four-tiered approach to the fees, according to summary of the idea. The executive branch is working “hand-in-glove” with Capitol Hill staff to rejigger MPF’s structure to satisfy Trans Pacific Partnership provisions that prohibit ad valorem import fees, said the executive. “I think they’re very much in agreement,” he said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 29 - March 4 in case they were missed.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to urge Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to raise his country’s de minimis level to at least $150.52 (CA$200), when the Trudeau visits Washington on March 10. While Canada’s proximity to the U.S. often makes it the first foreign market that small- and medium-sized businesses contemplate for export, the country’s low de minimis level of CA$20 is a “distinct disadvantage” to companies that try to export to Canada, the Senators said (here). The most disadvantaged goods usually are “relatively low value items where the either the duty or costs associated with formal entry can effectively kill the sale,” the senators wrote. EBay is also be interested in such a change, it said recently (see 1601270013).
An increase to the de minimis threshold, the first of likely many changes to CBP's regulations due to the customs reauthorization law (see 1602260049), is expected to be a relatively easy update, said Mike Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America. Mullen is involved in ongoing discussions between industry and CBP on the changes, which are targeted for implementation by March 10, he said during an interview on March 1. Mullen has long pushed for changes to de minimis on behalf of the group's members, which include UPS and FedEx.