The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Jan. 22 announced a ban on imports of live swine, swine germoplasm and unprocessed pork products and byproducts from Montenegro, after detecting African swine fever in the country. Effective Jan. 14, imports of line swine and swine germoplasm is prohibited, APHIS said. Unprocessed pork products and byproducts also won’t be permitted to enter, though they may be imported in some cases if consigned to a USDA-approved establishment, APHIS said. Processed pork products and byproducts must be accompanied by an “import permit and/or government certification or both confirming that the products were treated according to APHIS requirements,” it said. “These restrictions will be updated as additional epidemiological information is obtained,” APHIS said.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices on Jan. 24:
Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced he will oppose the nomination of Nelson Cunningham, founder of McLarty Associates, as deputy U.S. trade representative. He pointed to Cunningham's advocacy for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and his firm's lobbying for a Chinese firm that makes glass in Moraine, Ohio, outside Dayton. That firm settled a case in 2018 with the National Labor Relations Board, which alleged it fired three workers who tried to get their colleagues to vote for United Autoworkers representation at the plant. The vote failed 2-1 in 2017.
President Joe Biden, in his explanation for his veto of a bill that would have disapproved the Federal Highway Administration's waiver of Buy America requirements for EV chargers, said that the general waiver for manufactured products at the FHWA is weaker than this specific waiver.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Jan. 23, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
CBP has released its Jan. 24 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 03), which includes the following ruling action:
CBP found substantial evidence that Suzhou Quality Import and Export evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese-origin aluminum extrusions, the agency said Jan. 23. Suzhou Quality imported extruded aluminum fence posts but didn't enter these extrusions as subject to the AD/CVD orders, the announcement said.
Logistics provider Your Special Delivery Services Specialty Logistics (YSDS) doesn't meet the criteria to act as the importer of record on a shipment, CBP said in a recent ruling. While the company would have a lien on shipments that it could exercise in the event of nonpayment, that doesn't qualify as enough of a financial interest in the shipment to give it the right to make entry, the agency said.
A Federal Maritime Commission hearing on the current conditions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden will be held Feb. 7 and, if necessary, continue Feb. 8, according to a Federal Register notice. Those who want to testify or submit written testimony must email the FMC secretary before Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. EST, the notice said. The hearing, beginning at 10 a.m., will be held at the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C.