CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of paper importer Emily Ley Paper, doing business as Simplified, on April 3 challenging President Donald Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose 20% tariffs on all goods from China. Filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Simplified laid out three constitutional and statutory claims against the use of IEEPA to impose tariffs and one claim that the tariffs violate the Administrative Procedure Act for unlawfully modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (Emily Ley Paper, doing business as Simplified v. Donald J. Trump, N.D. Fla. # 3:25-00464).
With the White House announcing this week the end of the de minimis exemption for goods made in China starting next month, the U.S. will need to have the customs and trade infrastructure in place to handle significantly higher volumes of formal and informal entries, said Bernie Hart, vice president of customs for logistics provider Flexport.
The White House quietly released Annex III to President Donald Trump’s executive order on reciprocal tariffs yesterday, detailing Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings that will be used for the tariffs that take effect at 12:01 a.m. April 5 and April 9.
The White House released a pre-publication copy of President Donald Trump’s executive order on reciprocal tariffs, with Annex III to the order detailing Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings that will be used for the tariffs that take effect at 12:01 a.m. on April 5 and on April 9.
The Commerce Department is setting new countervailing duty cash deposit requirements for imports of slag pots from China (C-570-197), after finding subsidization of Chinese producers in the preliminary determination of a CVD investigation. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements take effect April 3.
CBP created Harmonized System Update 2512 on April 2, containing 125 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 35 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. It includes the latest adjustments on imports of automobiles and automobile parts into the U.S. (see 2504020081).
President Donald Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact his sweeping "retaliatory" tariffs (see 2504020086) has drawn serious speculation about whether the statute can serve as a proper basis for invoking the tariffs. Trade lawyers told us that potential issues arising from the use of IEEPA include the existence of tariff-making authority to address trade deficits under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, the "major questions" doctrine and the way in which the tariffs were calculated.
A day after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs upon dozens of trading partners, including countries that the U.S. has historically had friendly relations with, customs brokers and importers have numerous questions, such as whether ACE has the ability to verify values accurately and what role drawback might have as companies respond to the tariffs.
The White House released two annexes to its proclamation setting 10% reciprocal tariffs April 5, and higher country-specific tariffs for some on April 9, including a list of goods excluded from the tariffs, some because they're potentially subject to Section 232 actions.