CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on tin mill products from Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.K. (A-122-869, A-570-150, A-428-851, A-580-915, A-421-816, A-583-870, A-489-848, A-412- 827), and its countervailing duty investigation on tin mill products from China (C-570-151). The CVD investigation covers entries for the calendar year 2022. The AD investigations on Canada, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.K. cover the period Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022, and the AD investigation on China covers entries July 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022.
Pillows made of Chinese fabric, but constructed in Mexico, are considered Chinese-origin for tariff purposes and subject to Section 301 measures, CBP headquarters said in a recently released ruling.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is developing a new Harmonized Tariff Schedule flag for use in ACE that the agency says will eliminate the need for filers to disclaim entries under tariff subheadings potentially subject to the APHIS Core partner government agency message set, it said in an emailed bulletin Feb. 9. The new “AQ3” flag will alert filers that the relevant tariff subheading may require APHIS Core PGA data, but it will not prohibit filers from successfully submitting an entry without the data or a disclaim.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is amending two exclusions from Section 301 tariffs to correct the description of one and conform the tariff number to recent tariff schedule changes of the other, it said in a notice. The affected exclusions are found at U.S. Notes 20(ttt)(iv)(42) and 20(ttt)(iii)(36) to subchapter III of Chapter 99. Both exclusions were recently extended through September 2023 (see 2212160052).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 30 - Feb. 5:
The U.S. settled a civil suit against global trading and investment firm Samsung C&T America -- a subsidiary of Korean conglomerate Samsung C&T Corp. -- over charges SCTA violated the False Claims Act by misclassifying footwear imports to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The importer will pay $1 million to the U.S. and make admissions over its conduct, specifically that it misclassified its imports on entry documents filed with CBP and underpaid custom duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The Court of International Trade held oral arguments on Feb. 7 in the massive litigation over the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs. During the nearly two-hour affair, Judges Mark Barnett, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves probed the parties' positions on whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative complied with the Administrative Procedure Act by properly considering comments made on the proposed tariffs when imposing the duties on $500 billion of Chinese goods (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT # 21-00052).
CBP is lifting its forced labor finding on Malaysian palm oil producer Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, after finding that, ”based upon additional information" Sime Darby provided to CBP that "establishes by satisfactory evidence that the subject palm oil and derivative products are no longer mined, produced, or manufactured in any part with forced labor,” the agency said in a notice released Feb. 2.
Timing chain guides used in automotive engines are properly classified in Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8409 as parts for use in engines rather than in heading 8708 as parts for motor vehicles, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The ruling came in response to a request for further review of a denied protest on behalf of US Tsubaki Holdings. Tsubaki entered three models of timing chain guides under heading 8409 but CBP liquidated the entries as parts of vehicles.