CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2001 on Feb. 13, containing 12,922 Automated Broker Interface records and 2,380 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes the Section 301 tariff decrease for goods on list 4A (see 2001160019) and the expanded Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum goods, it said. It also includes recently released Section 301 tariff exclusions (see 2002030008).
The Office of Management and Budget is now reviewing a Commerce Department proposal to modify its Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system to require import license applicants to identify the country where steel used in the manufacture of an imported steel product was melted and poured. The proposal would prevent transshipment of steel products to take advantage of exemptions from Section 232 tariffs for Canada and Mexico, Commerce has said. OMB reviews of regulations are limited to 90 days, extendable by another 30, and may end with approval of the rule for publication.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 13 issued an injunction barring CBP from collecting new Section 232 tariffs on finished steel and aluminum products form a single importer, PrimeSource. The preliminary injunction says CBP cannot collect “duty deposits” on PrimeSource’s entries of goods covered by the tariffs, which took effect Jan. 8, and sets bonding requirements until CIT enters final judgment in the case. The preliminary injunction results from an agreement between the government and PrimeSource nine days after the lawsuit was filed.
The U.S.-Japan mini-trade deal covers just 5 percent of trade between the partners, according to Bruce Hirsh, a principal at Tailwind, but he said the likelihood of further progress is small. Hirsh spoke while at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones legislative summit on Feb. 11. “Japan wasn’t interested in doing a bilateral deal at all, but they recognized there was only so long they could keep the U.S. at bay,” he said. He said that what Japan gave to the U.S. “fell a little bit short of TPP,” or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said beef and pork got TPP parity, but rice got nothing and “dairy got a lot, but not everything.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that the Trump administration's argument that the Section 232 report justifying tariffs on imported autos is protected by executive privilege (see 2001210054) is not the last word. Grassley, who was speaking Feb. 11 on a conference call with reporters, said he will keep pushing, though he has not yet contacted the White House or the Commerce Department. He said the next step is to consult with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.
An importer challenging new Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives is now seeking to bar CBP from collecting the tariffs only on its own entries, and not on entries from all importers subject to the new duties. PrimeSource Building Products, after “further consultations” with the government, withdrew its original motion for a universal temporary restraining order on Feb. 12 (see 2002060075), and filed a new motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring the government “from collecting duty deposits pursuant to Proclamation 9980 … on entries by PrimeSource Building Products Inc. filed on or after 12:01 am February 8, 2020.” Oman Fasteners on Feb. 7 filed a similar request for an order that only affects its own entries, in a separate challenge to the Section 232 tariffs. In a letter about PrimeSource’s request, the government said it does “not consent to a temporary restraining order or injunction.” A teleconference on the case is scheduled for Feb. 13.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 3-9:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 3-7 in case they were missed.
Customs duties are estimated at $72 billion in the current fiscal year, and the White House projects that number will climb to $92 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. It projects that duties then will fall to $54 billion the following year.
CBP will be posting “the active Section 232 product exclusions in ACE” to its website on a weekly basis, it said. “If you are unable to file an entry with one of these active product exclusion numbers, contact your CBP client representative.”