The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 18 updated guidance related to an expanded ban on imports of Russian seafood announced in December (see 2312220007). The update to OFAC’s frequently asked question adds several new tariff subheadings to the lists of tariff provisions for pollock and other seafood to which the ban may apply.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is amending an exclusion from Section 301 tariffs to align it with recent changes to the relevant Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading (see 2401020049). The change affects the exclusion under U.S Note 20(ttt)(iii)(27) to subchapter III of Chapter 99, which had covered goods of subheading 2929.90.5090 and now covers goods of subheading 2929.90.5095 for entries on or after Jan. 1.
The International Trade Commission will analyze the export competitiveness of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan and India, after a request from the U.S. trade representative. She asked the commission to track the apparel market shares of each of those countries in 2013, 2018 and 2023, and to describe the changing patterns in those market shares, including against other top suppliers of apparel.
After members of Congress were blindsided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative backing away from digital trade advocacy, they are taking no chances in spelling out their desire that the agency push for a continued moratorium on tariffs on digital goods. The World Trade Organization has renewed that moratorium since 1998, but some member countries want to start collecting duties on the sale of streaming movies, software as a service, and more.
NEW YORK -- The Court of International Trade held oral argument on Jan. 18 in Chinese exporter Ninestar's case challenging its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, addressing the company's motion for a preliminary injunction against its listing and its bid to unseal and unredact the record in the case (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
The World Customs Organization is considering changes to the tariff nomenclature that underlies the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. and over 200 other country tariff schedules around the world to potentially make classification easier and allow for more detail and accuracy in the identification of goods.
Both Asian countries and American businesses had hoped that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework could be a step on the road to lowering tariffs, trade experts said during a webinar on the future of IPEF, but now they're wondering if there will be any economically significant effect at all from talks about trade facilitation, green transition and supply chain resilience.
CBP has released its Jan. 17 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 02), which includes the following ruling action:
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says that her agency and Congress "will need to work closely together" to address the fact that "existing rules of origin have left openings" for Chinese firms with operations outside China to avoid Section 301 tariffs and, depending where the operations occur, benefit from free trade agreements.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Jan. 16 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):