Most business interests argued that removing goods subject to Section 301 tariffs is not administrable, would damage the economy, and, if not abandoned, needs a long lead time to prepare for, in comments to CBP.
Apparel importers and retailers don't have much favor in this administration, but groups representing their interests tried to appeal to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's logical side in comments requested by the agency on the reciprocal tariffs slated for April 2. The trade group representing the greatly diminished domestic textile and apparel industry, in contrast, said reciprocal tariffs could be used to recoup $100 billion in annual lost sales.
Nearly 750 organizations and businesses gave input to the administration on trade barriers or subsidies that prevent them from reaching their sales potential.
Retail company Forever 21 blamed de minimis for "materially and negatively" impacting its business, in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in a Delaware court. The filing said that "certain non-U.S. retailers that compete with [Forever 21], such as Temu and Shein," have been taking advantage of de minimis to import goods into the U.S. cheaply and thereby "pass significant savings onto consumers."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Even Flexport's advisors are stumped over how exactly to declare a value for the aluminum or steel content for affected derivative products (see 2503140059), based on comments made during a webinar hosted by the company March 18.
Associations' views diverged widely on the wisdom of codifying a modified Type 86 process and tweaking the clear-from-the-manifest process for de minimis entries. Groups also disagreed on CBP's proposals for what new data should be submitted. The agency received 95 comments on its proposal, though dozens were from individuals and didn't make substantive suggestions. Some associations and companies addressed both this proposed rule and the one that would carve out sections 301 and 232 goods from de minimis. The comment period for that rule closes March 24.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP has added a target deployment of September 2025 for when the agency expects to implement Stage 3 of an enhancement aimed at withholding in ACE the release of de minimis shipments that exceed the $800 per person/per day threshold.
CBP has postponed indefinitely an enhancement within ACE that would withhold the release of de minimis shipments that exceed the $800 per person/per day threshold, according to the February development and deployment schedule released last week.