The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 10-16.
Golf clubs are commonly made with components from multiple countries of origin and may be subject to additional tariffs, depending on the origin, CBP said in a May 18 CSMS message. That is why importers of completed golf clubs are required to include origin information for each component, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 10-14 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Former Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiator Wendy Cutler told an audience for an Atlantic Council webinar that the U.S. cannot rejoin even a renegotiated TPP in the next two years, and maybe not during the next four. Cutler, a vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that the administration should try to ink mini-deals with TPP countries on digital trade, like it did with Japan, and said that maybe there can be coordination on supply chains or climate and trade. Cutler was also chief negotiator on the Korea free trade agreement.
After the European Union announced May 17 that it will not double retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports on June 1, exporters expressed relief. More significantly, the joint statement between the EU and Office of the U.S Trade Representative said the two sides are aiming for a united approach to global overcapacity distortions that would allow the 25% and 10% tariffs under Section 232 to be removed at the end of the year. Domestic metal producers welcomed that news, but the union that represents steelworkers reacted with some alarm.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 3-9.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, heard again and again from members of Congress who are hearing from companies in their districts that they want Section 301 tariff exclusions back. She heard repeatedly that the 9% countervailing duties on Canadian lumber are making a bad situation worse. And she heard that the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and Generalized System of Preferences benefits program should be renewed. On each topic, both Democrats and Republicans shared concerns, though on GSP, Republicans only spoke of the cost to importers, while Democrats worried about the effects of GSP on the eligible countries. Tai testified for more than four hours in front of the House Ways and Means Committee on May 13.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai generally avoided being pinned down on timing as she was asked about rekindling trade negotiations with the United Kingdom and Kenya, the pause on tariffs on European imports, and a solution for steel overcapacity that could make way for the lifting of Section 232 tariffs.
Over 300 U.S. manufacturers wrote to President Joe Biden to request an end to Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, the Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users said in a news release May 6. “Manufacturers in the United States currently face historic shortages of readily available and globally priced steel and aluminum products at a time when the country is relying on our sector to help drive the economy and overcome the unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the group said in the letter. “Without termination of the tariffs, this situation will worsen if Washington moves forward with an infrastructure bill to invest in America, as these projects will create more strain on domestic steel and aluminum supplies, causing delays in construction and risking manufacturing jobs.”
The Commerce Department has reduced its backlog of Section 232 aluminum and steel exclusion requests and is granting decisions more quickly, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said May 6. She said the agency averages about 50 days to grant an exclusion from the date it receives the request.