The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on corrosion-resistant steel products from Australia (A-602-812), Brazil (A-351-862), Canada (A-122-871), Mexico (A-201-863), the Netherlands (A-421-818), South Africa (A-791-829), Taiwan (A-583-878), Turkey (A-489-855), the United Arab Emirates (A-520-811) and Vietnam (A-552-843), as well as its countervailing duty investigations on corrosion-resistant steel products from Brazil (C-351-863), Canada (C-122-872), Mexico (C-201-864) and Vietnam (C-552-844). The CVD investigations cover entries for the calendar year 2023. The AD investigations on Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates cover entries July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, and the AD investigation on Vietnam covers entries Jan. 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024.
Texas-based syringe importer Retractable Technologies took to the Court of International Trade to contest the 100% increase of Section 301 tariffs recently imposed on needles and syringes from China. The complaint is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the duties, claiming that the tariffs could send the company out of business (Retractable Technologies v. United States, CIT # 24-00185).
The Commerce Department is finalizing its determination that imports of high carbon steel wire from Mexico that are processed into prestressed concrete steel wire strand in the U.S., are circumventing the antidumping duty order on prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Mexico (A-201-831).
Three Republican senators reintroduced a bill to end permanent normal trade relations with China, and to set tariff rates of at least 35% for Chinese goods, if the Column 2 tariffs are not that high, as well as 100% tariffs on 38 pages of Harmonize Tariff Schedule lines enumerated in the bill.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Sept. 9-15 and 16-22:
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.
While a top CBP official didn't give any specifics on how many brokerages were suspended from a pilot that allows electronic clearance of de minimis packages (see 2405310054), he told attendees at an annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference not to "be afraid of that enforcement," as the brokers who were suspended were so lax that there wasn't even anything that the companies could argue about with CBP.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making changes to its list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes the agency plans to implement Phase VII of the Lacey Act provisions.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements is adding a two-way stretch woven polyester, rayon, spandex fabric to the "short supply list" in Annex 3.25 of the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement for items not commercially available in a timely manner, it said in a notice. CFI Textiles requested the additions in August. The fabric, classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 5515.11.00, is being added in unrestricted quantities. Under short supply provisions of CAFTA-DR, fibers, yarns and fabrics listed in Annex 3.25 are provided with tariff preferences under the trade agreement.
In the Sept. 18 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 37), CBP published a proposal to revoke ruling letters concerning certain wheels and hubs for trucks and trailers and the applicability of the generalized system of preferences to incandescent string lights.