An apparel factory owner and a trade policy professional from the apparel industry said it's critical to renew Haitian trade preferences this year, even though they don't expire for 14 months.
Days after the House speaker said he wished to move a bill that would end de minimis eligibility for products subject to Section 301 tariffs (see 2407080049), the ranking member and other Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee said the idea has merit.
Tariff carve-outs for Mexican steel and aluminum in the Section 232 action will be curtailed, so that only steel that is melted and poured in North America can qualify, and so that aluminum that was smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus but worked again in Mexico will be taxed at higher rates.
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The administration has added seafood, PVC, which is used in vinyl flooring, and aluminum to its priority enforcement sectors under the Ugyhur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it announced in its strategy update this week. This is the first time priority sectors have been added since the law went into effect two years ago; the original priority sectors of apparel, cotton products, polysilicon and solar panels made from polysilicon, and tomatoes remain.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called for a "legislative fix" to the de minimis exception "and the exploitation of that exception," the first time the administration has clearly said it hopes Congress will restrict the program that allows purchasers to import up to $800 worth of goods per day without paying tariffs.
Even though two jacket styles produced by manufacturer and supplier Youngone El Salvador met the tariff shift requirement of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), the jackets still aren't eligible for preferential tariff treatment because the visible lining was formed and finished in a country outside of member countries with the CAFTA-DR, CBP ruled recently.
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 4 to the 2024 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS adds new 10-digit tariff numbers for a variety of products, including integrated circuits and plantation-harvested teak.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said July 8 that he hopes to have a "significant package of China-related legislation" signed into law this year, including a provision that moved out of the House Ways and Means Committee that would make goods subject to Section 301 tariffs ineligible for de minimis treatment. All goods from China would have to enter with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification code upon entry so that CBP could enforce the law. That bill also included new penalties for de minimis violations beyond forfeiture of the package (see 2404180068). Johnson said these changes would "rein in the de minimis privilege" that China is exploiting.
One of the biggest issues that EPA inspectors face when overseeing vehicles and motorized engine imports is coming across vehicles that are not compliant with emissions standards and may have emissions controls missing, an EPA enforcement inspector said during a presentation last week held jointly by EPA and NCBFAA.