Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said stakeholders are telling him they appreciate his 16-month Generalized System of Preferences benefits program renewal, and that those same groups are pushing back on Democrats' desires to make revisions to eligibility requirements. Grassley said that he hasn't spoken directly to House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., but that the trade staffs are telling him that Neal and Finance ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden's trade staff are frustrated by the GSP advocates' criticisms. He said stakeholders are telling Democrats that they are “using the GSP expiration as a hostage to achieve Democratic trade priorities,” and said he agreed with that argument.
Lobbying disclosure reports show a lot of corporate interest in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Plumbing Manufacturers International, and many companies, including Nike, Apple, Engie North America, Kraft Heinz, Campbell Soup and VF have been lobbying on the bill, which passed the House almost unanimously and is awaiting a Senate vote. The law would create a presumption that any goods from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor. The AFL-CIO and the American Foundry Society also have been lobbying on the bill.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Nov. 30. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:
Plastic hangers used to hold imported clothing are classifiable based on the clothing being held, CBP said in a Sept. 22 ruling. The importer, Bisma International, sought a further review of protest after CBP liquidated entries that included the hangers in subheading 6109.90.10, which covers T-shirts and other garments. Bisma argued that the plastic hangers deserved to be classified separately in a different heading. The ruling was released on Nov. 30.
Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., wrote a column arguing in favor of reauthorizing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill before they expire at the end of the year. “Renewing these programs, which have enjoyed bipartisan support, will reduce costs and uncertainty for American businesses as they continue to grapple with the effects of COVID," he said. "GSP benefits all Americans by promoting economic growth in developing countries while also providing a tool for the U.S. to encourage good practices like protecting intellectual property, providing reasonable market access to U.S. exports, and treating U.S. investors fairly. Letting GSP lapse would raise the average tariff by 3.5 percent for small businesses in Nebraska while decreasing our leverage to ensure developing nations are raising standards and playing fairly in the global marketplace.”
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 16-22:
The co-chairmen of the U.S.-India Caucus in the Senate did not bring up restoring India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program when asked about the possibility of a U.S.-India trade package during a program hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Nov. 18. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., instead said he hopes the Joe Biden administration will pursue a technology alliance with India. He also said he thinks withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which does not include India -- was a great mistake. “Both political parties bear some blame for that,” he said. Sen John Cornyn, R-Texas, agreed on TPP. “We’ll see what happens in Georgia,” he said, referring to the run-off elections for two Republican incumbents vying for the two U.S. Senate seats in that state later this year. “We may have divided government, it may require us all to work together.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Nov. 9-13 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
While it seems clear that Joe Biden wants to “team up with our allies” to confront China, less clear is how that will work in reality, Mayer Brown international trade lawyer Tim Keeler said during a Nov. 17 Mayer Brown webinar about trade policy in the incoming administration. Keeler, who is a former chief of staff in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said a majority of Congress believes the Section 301 tariffs have been a source of leverage, while the European Union thinks the tariffs violated World Trade Organization rules.
Although President-elect Joe Biden has said he wants to focus on domestic issues before turning to trade, Brian Pomper, a former chief international trade counsel when the Senate Finance Committee was controlled by Democrats, said he's going to have to deal with trade right away if the Trump administration imposes tariffs on France on Jan. 1 over its digital services tax proposal.