International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 4-7 in case they were missed.
The Section 232 quotas on steel and aluminum from certain countries and exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs are among the toughest procedural challenges CBP is facing in dealing with those trade remedies, CBP officials from the Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise recently told the American Institute for International Steel. AIIS said in its newsletter that the group's customs committee held a conference call on Sept. 6 with Center Director Africa Bell and other officials. CBP is in the process of making fixes to aid in the remedying of those problems, it said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending until Sept. 25 the deadline for public comments on the Section 232 investigation into the national security effects of uranium imports (see 1807180029), BIS said in a notice. Comments had originally been due Sept. 10. The agency seeks input on the health of the domestic uranium industry, quantities of uranium imports and industry growth needed to meet national security requirements.
It's uncertain how long it would take the International Trade Commission to report on the economic impact of an updated NAFTA, as required under Trade Promotion Authority, ITC Chairman David Johanson said during an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Sept. 6. Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked Johanson if the ITC's evaluation could be started before a deal signing and inquired on how long it might take. Johanson said he could not say how long it would take, but acknowledged they cannot even start without the text, and they do not have the text yet for the U.S.-Mexico agreement that was announced in late August. The ITC has 105 days from signing to finish, and if it took that long, a vote would likely come no sooner than the middle of next year, because Congress also has 45 session days to write the implementing legislation.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is set make changes to the process for requesting exclusions from Section 232 tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminum products. The interim final rule creates procedures for rebutting objections to exclusion requests, clarifies the criteria BIS reviews when deciding whether to grant or deny requests, and provides for broader exclusion requests based on ranges or dimensions within the same Harmonized Tariff Schedule code.
Usually tariff issues are taken up in the Senate Finance Committee, but the Senate Labor Committee examined recent trade policies during a Sept. 5 hearing. Labor ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., noted the committee has an interest because of the effect on workers. "[President Donald] Trump is playing a dangerous game right now, and workers are paying the price," she said.
The International Trade Commission recently issued Revision 11 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Changes include those required to implement new exemptions from absolute quotas on steel from Argentina, Brazil and South Korea, and aluminum from Argentina, imposed as part of those countries’ deals to escape Section 232 tariffs (see 1808300004). Those changes take effect Aug. 30. The updated HTS also includes amendments effective Sept. 1 to rules of origin under the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. Finally, the recently revised subheading 9705.00.0085, which since July 1 has covered “zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical and paleontological pieces,” now refers more broadly to “other” collections or collectors’ pieces (i..e, other than numismatic, archaeological or ethnographic pieces). That change takes effect retroactively to July 1.
The "agreed outcomes" to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement were published by the U.S. Trade Representative on Labor Day, and they lay out the language changes put in place to protect the U.S. light truck market from Korean imports for another 20 years. In the original KORUS, agreed to in 2011, the 25 percent tariff on light trucks would last until 2021. In the renegotiated KORUS, they last through 2041. "The publication of the text of the agreed outcomes follows the completion in mid-August of U.S. domestic consultation procedures," said the USTR in a news release. "Korea will now initiate the next step in its own domestic procedures, which is to open for public comment the provisional Korean translations of the outcomes to amend the KORUS Agreement."
CBP plans to send out information about the change in effective dates for Section 232 tariff exclusions (see 1808300004), a CBP spokesman said. "We will send out an update in the near future indicating the change in effective date for approved exclusion requests back to when the request was accepted by the Department of Commerce," he said. Approved exclusions now apply as of the date the exclusion request was filed, not when the request was posted for public comments (see 1808310008).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 27-31 in case they were missed.