A domestic producer coalition filed petitions on March 31 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duty investigations on mattresses from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, and new countervailing duties on mattresses from China. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on mattresses from these countries that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties.
A U.S. manufacturer seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on non-refillable cylinders from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission March 26. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers.
Welding operations in the U.S. used to create a finished product for export are considered to be a “process,” which means the imported components are eligible for duty-free temporary importation under bond treatment, CBP said in a March 30 ruling. The ruling, requested by Crane Worldwide Logistics, involves parts used in nuclear power plants. Crane's client, Thermal Engineering International (TEI), asked for CBP input on how the TIB rules apply and whether the components are eligible treatment in TIB subheading 9813.00.05.20.
The Commerce Department issued a notice on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigation on ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene from South Korea (A-580-907). The agency will determine whether imports of merchandise subject to this investigation are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
CBP added on March 31 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published on March 26 (see 2003230043). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.43. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, and will expire after Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.
The Commerce Department is proposing to expand steel import licensing requirements to cover more steel products and require more information to be submitted to obtain the licenses, it said. The agency’s proposed rule would also indefinitely extend the expiration date of the program, which had previously been renewed every four years and was set to expire in 2022, by removing provisions on the program’s expiration from the regulations.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative announced a new round of 301 tariff exclusions (see 2003260009) that includes some medical supplies that were included in the fourth tranche of tariffs.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "five 10-digit HTSUS subheadings and seven specially prepared product descriptions, which together cover 36 separate exclusion requests." according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Sept. 1.
Importers of some N95 respirators and COVID-19 diagnostic tests that have been authorized pursuant to a Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) must still submit a reduced entry dataset to FDA, CBP said in a recent CSMS message. For product code NZJ (Respirator, N95, For Use By The General Public In Public Health Medical Emergencies), as well as product codes QPK, OTG, QKO, and QJR (various forms of diagnostic tests for COVID-19), importers must transmit an intended use code of 940.000 (Compassionate Use/Emergency Use) and an appropriate FDA product code, CBP said.