The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's president told the U.S. trade representative that customs brokers and others in the trade community aren't "pro forced-labor, pro-pollution, pro-unsustainable environmental practices," but that too often, "‘race to the top’ objectives do not take into consideration the ability to actually implement the policies, and the costs associated with the goals."
Kitchenware retailer Williams-Sonoma agreed to pay $3.2 million in civil penalties and "stop making false and misleading claims about the origins of its products," settling a lawsuit brought in a California court, DOJ announced. The agency alleged that Williams-Sonoma violated a Federal Trade Commission administrative order barring the company from advertising wholly imported goods and goods containing "significant imported content" as being "Made in the USA" (U.S. v. Williams-Sonoma, N.D. Cal. # 24-02396).
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 April 26, 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.
Air Cargo Advanced Screening data must be submitted when cargo destined for the U.S. is initially loaded at a foreign airport aboard an aircraft that will enter the U.S., CBP said. In a customs ruling dated April 19, the agency said the data needs to be entered at the initial loading regardless of whether the aircraft stops at a different foreign airport before entering the U.S.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America finalized its election of new officers and board members to govern the association for 2024-2026, the association said.
The Aluminum Association cheered the Mexican decision to apply tariffs to 544 tariff lines in aluminum and aluminum products. The tariffs are as low as 5% or 10% on some products, but are 25% and 35% on most.
President Joe Biden should support workers in the Baltimore region that were affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge (see 2403260047) the same way maritime workers were supported during the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel wrote in a letter to the White House dated April 23. Bentzel said the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, could act as an example. The White House didn't respond to our request for comment.
The Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise withdrew complaints against Hugo Boss Canada and GobiMin, the agency announced on April 24 and April 25. Both companies participated in "good faith," with GobiMin divesting from a gold mine that allegedly used Uyghur forced labor, and Hugo Boss participating in a confidential dispute settlement process with the parties that filed the complaint against the company and providing a "satisfactory response or remedy to their allegations," a CORE spokesperson said in an emailed news release.
An international panel ruling on whether the U.S. had the right to punish a zinc mine in San Martín over labor violations agreed with Mexico that the violations happened before USMCA -- or T-MEC, as Mexico calls it -- came into force, and so the panel ruled it didn't have jurisdiction.