Although bills renewing the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership were offered in the last Congress without action, and this year's bill has been waiting 11 months, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said advocates of the program shouldn't worry it will expire at the end of September. Grassley, in response to an International Trade Today question during a conference call with reporters Aug. 27, said renewal is probably something that can pass the Senate by unanimous consent.
After the first high-level review of the phase one trade deal, the principals talked about progress and ensuring the success of the U.S.-China trade agreement, but some believe the happy talk can't obscure that China and the U.S. are disentangling their mutual dependency in tech goods and services. “There is a re-alignment that is happening in real time,” Rideau Potomac Strategy Group President Eric Miller said in an Aug. 25 phone interview, the day after the call. U.S. and Chinese trade officials reemphasized their commitment to the phase one agreement during the Aug. 24 call, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.
There are no plans to automatically extend Section 301 tariff exclusions, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in answers to written questions from senators on the Finance Committee and members of the House Ways and Means Committee. When he was asked repeatedly by members of Congress if the exclusions would be extended automatically to help small businesses struggling due to the COVID-19 recession, he said no and that “USTR has not decided whether to possibly extend again the exclusions extended until the end of 2020.” Lighthizer testified at the hearings in June (see 2006180029 and 2006170008).
The House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee sought to learn lessons for trade and manufacturing from COVID-19, but panelists diverged on whether more money should be spent standing up domestic suppliers of masks and gowns, or whether the government should look to identify sources around the world that can respond to surges in demand like those this year.
CBP does not have the authority to extend deadlines for filing protests so that importers can claim refunds of Section 301 tariffs on goods granted exclusions well after liquidation, though a path to refunds may be possible via the reconciliation process, Ana Hinojosa, executive director of CBP’s trade remedy and law enforcement division, said during the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's July 15 meeting.
2020 outpaced even the active 2019 in terms of the frequency of Harmonized Tariff Schedule updates. Most of the updates implemented new Section 301 exclusions and changes and extensions for existing ones. Other major changes included new Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum "derivatives" and the withdrawal of Generalized System of Preferences benefits for many goods from Thailand In all, 13 revisions were issued prior to the mid-year Revision 14, as follows:
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 14 to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS implements USMCA, which took effect July 1, and adds new tariff numbers for a variety of products, including diagnostic reagents and personal protective equipment. All changes take effect July 1, unless otherwise specified.
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 14 to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS implements USMCA, which took effect July 1, and adds new tariff numbers for a variety of products, including diagnostic reagents and personal protective equipment. All changes take effect July 1, unless otherwise specified.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 22-26 in case they were missed.
President Donald Trump on June 30 released the annexes to Presidential Proclamation 10053, including provisions to implement the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, scheduling it for publication in the July 1 Federal Register. Among the annexes are new General Note 11 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which lays out USMCA rules of origin. The proclamation also adds new special program indicators (SPIs) “S” and “S+” throughout the tariff schedule for goods eligible for USMCA treatment. These changes take effect July 1.