Customs attorney and former CBP official Sandra Bell previously with DLA Piper, joined Rimon PC as a partner, she announced on LinkedIn. Bell advises clients on regulations related to customs tariffs and import issues.
The Federal Maritime Commission will host a public hearing Feb. 7 to look at how conditions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are "impacting commercial shipping and global supply chains," the commission said Jan. 12. The FMC said the hearing will allow the shipping industry to share with the commission "how operations have been disrupted by attacks on commercial shipping emanating" from Houthi rebels in Yemen (see 2312200045).
U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark criticized the Biden administration for not only choosing to avoid tariff liberalizing trade negotiations, but also for walking away from long-time positions on digital trade provisions. Clark, who was speaking at a press conference after the Chamber's annual State of American Business event, declined to say whether a second Donald Trump administration or another term of Joe Biden would be worse on trade.
House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said he thinks the chances are good for renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program in 2024, due to bipartisan interest in the legislation. "A lot of members have examples from their district of why we need GSP." He added that a three-year lapse of the benefit program is "inexcusable."
The Federal Maritime Commission is adjusting its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice released this week. The changes, effective Jan. 15, increase maximum penalties for various violations of U.S. shipping regulations, including failing to establish "financial responsibility for nonperformance of transportation," illegal foreign shipping practices that have an “adverse impact” on U.S. carriers, “knowing and willful” violations of the Shipping Act, and operating in foreign commerce after a tariff suspension.
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Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who warned the White House that reducing the scope of the Section 301 tariff list or reducing tariff levels "could undermine efforts to shore up our domestic manufacturing and supply chains," said he doesn't know the details of what products might leave the target list if the White House hikes tariffs on electric vehicles or their batteries.
Australia's tariff rate quota limits for 2024 for beef, dairy products, avocados, peanuts and tobacco were announced by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a Federal Register notice released Jan. 8.
The chairman and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China asked the commerce secretary and the U.S. trade representative to use "all existing trade authorities" to hike tariffs on Chinese legacy chips, including those already incorporated into consumer goods, they said in an emailed news release.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2400 Jan. 5, containing 397 ABI records and 77 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, as well as HSU 2401 on Jan. 8, containing 383 ABI records and 73 Harmonized Tariff Records. HSU 2400 and 2401 include the missing 2024 HTS updates that were part of the end of year 484(f) changes, CBP said in a CSMS message on Jan. 8.