Customs duty

With only 20 days left before expiration, lead sponsor Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said she hopes her colleagues will support a clean reauthorization of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, and that she fears that trying to move this bill with a Generalized System of Preferences benefits program expansion and renewal will cause delays. She said that the most recent report on the program from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said all eight countries are in compliance with their obligations, including labor rights.

LVMH won't acquire Tiffany & Co. as previously planned, due in part to tariffs on goods from France scheduled to take effect in January (see 2007130043), LVMH said in a Sept. 9 news release. During an LVMH board of directors meeting, “the Board learned of a letter from the French European and Foreign Affairs Minister which, in reaction to the threat of taxes on French products by the US, directed the Group to defer the acquisition of Tiffany until after January 6th, 2021,” LVMH said. Based on that and other analysis, LVMH said it can't complete the acquisition “as it stands.”

CBP is apparently working on a regulatory change that would eliminate the $800 de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. The agency on Sept. 2 submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled, “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website. OMB’s reviews are the final step before publication of a rule, and include an interagency review. CBP did not immediately comment.

CBP is apparently working on a regulatory change that would eliminate the $800 de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. The agency on Sept. 2 submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website.

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 2 declined to order the release of an importer’s entries that were detained by CBP on country of origin concerns, finding the uncertainty around its own contradictory line of cases on substantial transformation was a factor in denying the bid for a preliminary injunction.

CBP will add the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Sept. 3, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published Aug. 24 (see 2008210003). The two exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.48. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions are already expired but will apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and through Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.

With a month left to go before the expiration of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act benefits program, some lobbyists are starting to worry that a renewal won't get done. Beth Hughes, vice president of trade and customs policy for the American Apparel and Footwear Association, said Aug. 31 that her organization has been contacting the trade staffers at the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee since April or May, reminding them that the expiration is coming up. About a month ago, the trade staffers from both chambers were telling her that while they are aware of the deadline, they wanted to make sure that the administration supports renewal.

Ambiance Apparel and its owner reached a plea agreement with the Department of Justice concerning charges of undervaluing imported garments to avoid customs duty costs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central District of California said in an Aug. 26 news release. The Los Angeles company and its owner, Sang Bum Noh, agreed to plead guilty and to pay nearly $118 million, the release said. “Ambiance Apparel -- the operating name for two corporations, Ambiance U.S.A. Inc. and Apparel Line U.S.A., Inc. -- agreed to plead guilty to eight counts, including conspiracy, money laundering, and customs offenses,” it said.

Five people are facing federal charges over allegations of illegal filing of drawback claims, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a news release. An Aug. 12 grand jury indictment, which was unsealed Aug. 25, charged Dale Behm of Shell Knob, Missouri; Yong Heng Liang of Daly City, California; Joshua Stanka of Katy, Texas; Joshua Clark of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas; and Michael Choy of Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, “with conspiracy, wire fraud, and related charges related to an alleged scheme to submit fraudulent claims for refunds on import duties,” the release said.

The U.S. is reducing by 50% tariffs on certain prepared meals, certain crystal glassware, cigarette lighters and lighter parts, surface preparations and propellant powders, in exchange for the European Union ending tariffs on live and frozen lobster imports. Canada had been taking market share from Maine lobster exports since Canada and the EU signed a trade deal, and Canadian lobsters could enter duty free. The products from the EU have an “average annual trade value of $160 million,” while lobster exports to the EU topped $111 million in 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a news release Aug. 21. All the tariff reductions are effective as of Aug. 1, 2020.