The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 7 said that importer RKW Klerks' net wraps products, used in a machine to bale harvested crops, are not "parts" of harvesting machinery under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Judges Richard Taranto, Raymond Chen and Tiffany Cunningham thus sided with CBP's classification of the products as "warp knit fabric," dutiable at 10% under HTS subheading 6005.39.00.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 26 - March 3:
Whole garlic cloves in brine imported from China by Roland Goods aren't subject to an antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from China, the Commerce Department said in a March 1 scope ruling.
Three domestic manufacturers filed a petition Feb. 28 asking the International Trade Commission to conduct a Section 201 safeguard investigation on imports of polyester staple fiber.
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commissioner Kimberly Glas, calling e-commerce "a superhighway of the Wild West," asked witnesses at a hearing on Chinese exports and product safety if de minimis is a major contributor to unsafe products.
Sen. Josh Hawley wants the baseline tariff on cars made by Chinese companies to be 100%, not 2.5%, and to apply whether those cars are assembled in China, Thailand, Brazil, Hungary or Mexico.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 19-25:
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 26 issued an amended decision in a customs case on the tariff classification of five categories of chrome-plated plastic automobile parts after initially deciding the case Dec. 18. The new decision adds a discussion of axle covers, the fifth category of goods, finding them to fall under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8708 pursuant to General Rule of Interpretation 1.
A CBP headquarters official, chosen to help shape national policy on de minimis, said that while the trade community welcomed the opportunity for electronic clearance of packages that require partner government agency review, importers are often not following the reasonable care standard required for Type 86 entries. The Type 86 test is for packages that are low enough value to avoid duties under the de minimis statute, but are not eligible for de minimis because they contain goods that PGAs inspect. If importers participate in the test -- and there were more than 623 million packages last fiscal year that were covered -- they must provide a 10-digit Harmonized Tarff Schedule code.
Robert Stein, former executive at supply chain logistics firm Mohawk Global, has joined Braumiller Consulting Group as vice president, according to his LinkedIn announcement. Stein said he will be working on foreign-trade zone, duty drawback, import/export compliance, Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification, customs valuation and free trade agreement matters.