The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's recent ruling in a trade-related False Claims Act case likely will create more customs fraud enforcement led by private parties and should lead importers to be extra wary that they are complying with U.S. trade laws, various laws firms said. The case is Island Industries v. Sigma Corp. (9th Cir. # 22-55063).
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website July 2, 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 created Harmonized System Update 2527 on July 3, containing 24 Automated Broker Interface records and six Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. It includes Partner Government Agency updates and miscellaneous tariff adjustments required by verification of the 2025 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. In support of the PGA Message Set, the AM8 AMS (Agricultural Marketing Service) tariff flag was removed from HTS subheadings 0901.11.0040, 0901.21.0020 and 0901.21.0049.
CBP has released its July 2 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 27), which includes the following ruling actions:
Sidley trade lawyer Ted Murphy sent a note to clients about his thoughts on the U.S.-Vietnam tariff deal announced July 2 "based on what we (think we) know about the deal thus far," though he noted that the deal is likely still being negotiated.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC on July 3 that the Vietnam deal is "finalized in principle" and that 20% will replace the current 10% reciprocal tariff. As for which goods will be subject to 40% tariffs, Bessent didn't add any clarity. "A huge amount of the trade that comes from Vietnam is what’s called transshipment from China," he said. "We’ll see what happens with the transshipment."
No part of an e-tailing franchise fee payment that a buyer makes to a seller should be included in the price actually paid, according to a March 6 CBP ruling. This also applies to situations where an e-tailing fee payment is added as a statutory addition or is tacked on to what is payable for the merchandise, the ruling determined.
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 16 to the 2025 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS adds new 10-digit tariff numbers for a variety of products, including coffee, refrigerators, wind turbine parts and integrated circuits, among other goods.
Tennessee-based shipper Dollar General Logistics has accused Taiwanese ocean carrier Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. of failing to meet its minimum quantity commitments under service contracts for the period of May 2021 through April 2022, according to a new complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register July 2 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):