The International Trade Commission is launching an investigation into possible additions and removals of products from the Generalized System of Preferences program, it said in a May 23 press release. Conducted in response to a request from the U.S. trade representative, the investigation will inform USTR’s decisions on product eligibility in the ongoing 2017-18 GSP annual review. ITC and the USTR will also in the review consider whether to grant requests for de minimis and competitive need limitations waivers.
CBP will move forward with its two-track filing system for Section 321 entries in ACE, creating a new option to clear shipments via entry type 86 in the Automated Broker Interface while still allowing clearance off manifest in the Automated Manifest System, it said in a May 22 announcement of priority areas for $30 million in additional ACE development funding it received in appropriations legislation. As expected by some in industry (see 1802130035), the ABI option will be optional for filers but required for entries with partner government agency (PGA) data, CBP said.
CBP will prioritize Section 321 filing via the Automated Broker Interface, an update to CBP Form 5106 importer information, and modernizing foreign-trade zone “e214” admissions, among other new and revised functionalities, with the additional $30 million in ACE funding it received in fiscal year 2018 appropriations legislation, CBP said in an announcement on its website May 22.
With CBP expected to allow for multiple options for filing Section 321 entries, some significant uncertainty remains for how the partner government agencies will treat goods imported at values under the $800 de minimis threshold, said Lenny Feldman, a lawyer with Sandler Travis. Still, there have been some indications for what to expect from the PGAs on the issue, he said. "Goods that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulate would seem to be excluded from section 321 processing because the customs regulations already mention alcohol and tobacco as exceptions to de minimis processing," Feldman said in a May 20 email. Pharmaceuticals and medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration also seem unlikely to receive Section 321 filing exemptions, he said.
On May 17, the supposed deadline for having a NAFTA deal ready so that Congress could vote on it in 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative said ratifying a deal this year is unlikely. Earlier that day Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in New York, said, "We're down to a point where there is a good deal on the table. Mexico has put proposals on the table that actually will go a long way towards reducing the trade deficit the U.S. has with Mexico, and indeed, bringing back some auto jobs from Mexico to the United States. It's right down to sort of the last conversations."
President Donald Trump's frequent trashing of NAFTA doesn't really matter when the principals sit around the table, as they did May 11, said Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo. "President Trump has been very consistent, even before entering politics, he has had that view," Guajardo said outside the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. While he said Mexico, Canada and some in the U.S. believe the economic integration of North America has been positive, he explained: "That is not what we are negotiating. We are not negotiating views. We are negotiating realities. We do believe, and that is something we agree with President Trump, that trade agreements and public policy have to be aware of how you have distortions in the system. And you have to accommodate the public policy to help those that feel displaced for trade. In that sense, these are new times for policymakers."
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP is considering offering trusted trader benefits to those in the e-commerce world as a way to improve compliance, said John Leonard, executive director-trade policy and programs at CBP, during a May 2 panel discussion at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference. The hope is to "incentivize all these new actors in this space to improve the platforms and marketplaces, etc., to be more compliant," he said. "Part of that could involve the Trusted Trader program" and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, he said. CBP "is looking at this very closely."
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Both the government and customs brokers will need to keep agile in light of the fast-moving changes in the world of international trade, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner-trade at CBP. "The relationship between the government and private sector is very much facilitated by the role of the customs broker," Smith said during a May 2 interview at that National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference. "I believe those that do international trade are helped by the knowledge and expertise of customs brokers. I think very often there is a financial function that customs brokers can also perform for the private sector. For CBP, I think, they help educate around requirements and we believe that's a very valuable function."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 23-27 in case they were missed.
RANCHO MIRAGE, California -- Much of the $34 million in "additional money earmarked for ACE" within the recent omnibus government funding bill is already "planned out," said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on May 1. "That money was to be allocated for new development or enhancements in the ACE process," he said. CBP has a priority list, he said. Among the factors for the priority list was a list of requests provided to CBP from the NCBFAA (see 1802200043).