The Trump administration should push for preclearance provisions in any updated North American free trade agreement, several members of the trade said during a June 29 hearing. NAFTA negotiations should fortify elements of the Obama administration’s Beyond the Border vision such as a common U.S.-Canadian single-window platform and cargo preclearance mechanism, Daniel Ujczo, a representative for the Canada-U.S. Business Association and American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said during a hearing at the International Trade Commission convened by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “The mix of technology of single window as well as allowing preclearance at facilities themselves would significantly advance Canada and U.S. and North American trade.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is authorizing tariff benefits for travel goods in Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading 4202 under the Generalized System of Preferences, USTR said (see 1706290053). “According to the information provided in the course of USTR’s review, making travel goods GSP-eligible for all GSP beneficiaries is expected to be neutral with respect to overall U.S. import levels, and therefore also to the U.S. trade balance, though this action may shift some of the overseas production of these products from non-GSP countries to GSP countries,” USTR said in a statement. The White House also released a presidential proclamation on GSP and other duty-free treatment (here).
The U.S. Trade Representative is authorizing duty free treatment for certain travel goods of heading 4202 under the Generalized System of Preferences, it said in a list of the results of its 2016-2017 GSP Review (here). The list also includes USTR’s decisions to add other products to GSP, including certain rolled grains and essential oils of lemon, as well as USTR’s decisions on competitive need limitation and de minimis waivers. The changes take effect July 1.
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AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will raise the need for a worldwide unique facility identifier when he travels to Brussels in early July for a meeting of the World Customs Organization policy council, Valerie Neuhart, acting director of CBP’s Office of Trade Relations, said on June 21. McAleenan will be joined in the effort by representatives from Canada and Mexico, who have also been in discussions with CBP about harmonizing unique facility identifiers, she said, speaking during a panel discussion of upcoming ACE priorities at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference.
AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP will announce in the “coming weeks” a new strategy to address the recent explosion of e-commerce imports, said Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference on June 21. The new approach will combine engagement and education of the trade community, and in particular small importers, with internal changes that will help ports deal with surging volumes of shipments, he said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will push for codifying prohibition of tariffs on e-commerce and for raising Mexico’s and Canada’s de minimis levels, USTR Robert Lighthizer told senators June 21. Canada has a de minimis threshold of $15 and Mexico has a $50 level, while the U.S. has an $800 de minimis level. “There are real differences in the three countries between the de minimis levels, and … the United States has what is clearly the most modern, the most enlightened” threshold, Lighthizer said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing exploring the Trump administration’s trade policy and USTR’s fiscal year 2018 budget request. “And that is something that I’m sure that we will pursue, and I hope that we would end up with a good result in this area.” Lighthizer added that the new NAFTA should add a digital trade chapter.
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Duty deferral provisions within NAFTA should be left out of any updated deal, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to the U.S. trade representative (here). Under NAFTA, some products processed in the U.S. "require a special deferral entry to be filed with duty payment to CBP" when exported to Canada or Mexico, the group said. "This special entry and duty payment would not apply if the same shipment were exported to any other country outside of NAFTA" and therefore "hinder U.S. exports to Mexico and Canada," the group said. The NCBFAA comments were in response to a USTR request for public input on how it should update NAFTA.
NAFTA negotiators should embrace trade facilitation and “do no harm” to existing cross-border relationships as they rework the agreement, trade associations said in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative (here). USTR on June 13 extended the deadline for comment submission on the expected NAFTA renegotiation from June 12 until 11:59 p.m. on June 14, citing "high interest" and a need to ensure all interested participants have an opportunity to comment. USTR requested input on potential modifications to the agreement following the administration’s formal notification to Congress that it intends to start renegotiating the agreement as early as mid-August (see 1705220007 and 1705180043).