U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is threatening to restrict animal imports originating or transiting Mexico starting on April 30 if the country doesn't follow through with plans to work with the U.S. government to eradicate the New World screwworm, a pest that can infest livestock, according to an April 26 letter published on USDA's website.
The House Homeland Security Committee released its budget reconciliation recommendations, part of the process to extend Trump tax cuts and possibly, add new tax cuts. That committee, however, is adding spending, both for screening cargo and hiring CBP Office of Field Operations officers.
Correction: Former CBP Executive Director of Trade Relations George Bogden was forced to resign because of his “ties” to Miles Taylor (see 2504250035), according to a report from the Washington Post. Someone in the administration started circulating Facebook pictures of Bogden at Taylor's first wedding, the story said. That wedding was before Taylor revealed he was behind an anonymous New York Times op-ed piece, but the Post reported that an anonymous attendee said Bogden was also at Taylor’s second wedding in 2023. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum pulling security clearances for Taylor and any "individuals at entities associated with Taylor."
CBP has released its April 23 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 17). While it contains no ruling notices, it does include one Court of International Trade slip opinion.
Customs brokers will be able to file Type 11 informal entries for articles under $2,500, even if they are categorized in Chapter 99 and are subject to tariffs, from all countries, according to an April 28 cargo systems message from CBP.
A March 2025 CBP ruling has determined that a partial duty exemption in the tarif schedule for U.S.-origin materials exported to a third country for assembly will not apply to certain U.S.-origin crystalline silicon wafers exported to a third country for assembly into solar cells and panels.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a TV interview that "an agreement in principle" can be reached with 17 trading partners to prevent "the tariffs there from ratcheting back to the maximum level."
The Pacific Legal Foundation, the libertarian legal advocacy group that recently brought a case against the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on behalf of 11 importers, has had "preliminary" talks with the other advocacy groups that have brought cases challenging the tariffs on whether to proceed with separate cases. Molly Nixon, attorney at the foundation, told us she's "in touch" with the two other groups who have brought cases against the tariffs, the New Civil Liberties Alliance and the Liberty Justice Center, but that nothing is confirmed about whether the groups will combine cases.
Recent U.S. trade actions, such as the IEEPA tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, and the temporarily paused reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries worldwide, could cause global container volumes to slump by 1% in 2025, according to U.K-based maritime shipping advisory firm Drewry.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the April 25 Federal Register on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):