International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 28 - Sept. 1 in case they were missed.
Mexico and Canada are resisting a U.S. push to raise their de minimis levels to the U.S.’s $800 threshold, and the U.S. faces time pressures on other NAFTA issues, including dispute settlement and rules of origin, unofficial advisers involved in NAFTA negotiations said in recent interviews. The U.S. and Mexico, in particular, are hoping to conclude NAFTA renegotiations by the end of 2017, with three weeks between rounds, a comparatively short timeline for trade agreement talks that also demands negotiators act more quickly than in past U.S. negotiations, the advisers said. The three NAFTA parties are undertaking the second round of renegotiations in Mexico City Sept. 1-5.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 21-25 in case they were missed.
Among the express industry’s hopes for CBP regulatory reforms is elimination of rules governing importer storage of records of a non-original format, and switching from a district permit structure to a “customs territory permit structure,” according to a list of recommendations provided by the Express Association of America to Tim Skud, Treasury Department deputy assistant secretary for tax, trade. Skud mentioned the recommendations at the Aug. 23 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, and said the EAA's were the only ones he had received so far. CBP is in the process of compiling an "inventory" of deregulatory actions to comply with Trump administration initiatives including the two-for-one rule, officials have said (see 1705090020).
Multiple recommendations submitted by the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for Section 321 entries proved to be contentious, eliciting disagreement among members during the Aug. 23 COAC meeting in San Diego. The presentation of the recommendations at the meeting included the unusual step of votes and discussions on each individual recommendation. While some of the recommendations faced opposition, all were ultimately approved by the COAC. "There's a lot of uncertainty in this area because it's a new and different model that was not necessarily envisioned or anticipated by the market, by those that are participating in it or by our government partners," said Cindy Allen, the co-chair of the Trade Modernization Subcommittee.
Articles imported within sets may be eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences, even if other components of the set are not, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued Aug. 23. In a test case on whether sets of Thai pots and Chinese lids imported by Meyer Corp. qualify for GSP, CIT held that the pots are GSP-eligible, and that the lids are not, despite the entire sets being classified in a single tariff provision for kitchen articles of stainless steel.
CBP posted more documents on the agency's website for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting on Aug. 23 in San Diego. Among other things, CBP posted draft recommendations from the International Engagement and Trade Facilitation Working Group that describe some best practices that the agency could suggest to other customs administrations. For example, CBP should advocate that other customs regimes include standard public commenting procedures for regulatory changes, implement advanced ruling programs and simplify clearance procedures.
CBP posted draft recommendations from the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) e-commerce working group on Section 321 entries ahead of the COAC meeting on Aug. 23 in San Diego. The recommendations "are intended to improve the import process from a facilitation and enforcement perspective for section 321-eligible shipments across all modes of transportation," the working group said. CBP issued an interim final rule on the de minimis level last year and raised a number of questions on the role of other agencies' requirements for such shipments (see 1608250029).
CBP posted on the agency's website some documents for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting on Aug. 23 in San Diego. Only the government papers and the agenda for the meeting were posted. Among other things, CBP said in its Border Interagency Executive Council issue paper that the BIEC principals plan to meet on Aug. 28 to consider a working group report on partner government agency targeting and manifest access. "The BIEC is working on several major projects, along with developing a process to prioritize enhancements to Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) that are considered 'post-core,'" the agency said. The BIEC will also "be focusing on continued ACE enhancements and simplifying CBP processes, in line with CBP’s trade priorities and funding availability," it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 7-11 in case they were missed.