Nearly 750 organizations and businesses gave input to the administration on trade barriers or subsidies that prevent them from reaching their sales potential.
Associations' views diverged widely on the wisdom of codifying a modified Type 86 process and tweaking the clear-from-the-manifest process for de minimis entries. Groups also disagreed on CBP's proposals for what new data should be submitted. The agency received 95 comments on its proposal, though dozens were from individuals and didn't make substantive suggestions. Some associations and companies addressed both this proposed rule and the one that would carve out sections 301 and 232 goods from de minimis. The comment period for that rule closes March 24.
A State Department notice declaring that all agency efforts to control international trade now constitute a "foreign affairs function" of the U.S. under the Administrative Procedure Act will ultimately be subject to the discretion of the courts, trade lawyers told us.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asked a top executive at Norsk Hydro a few weeks ago when the company would open a primary aluminum smelter.
Customs brokers and importers are still grappling with how to comply with the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives that went into effect just after midnight on March 12 (see 2503120054).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Feb. 10-16, Feb. 17-23, Feb. 24 - March 2 and March 3-9:
Two Section 232 investigations launched March 10 by the Commerce Department -- one on copper, the other on lumber -- serve as harbingers of potentially more trade activity to come, attorneys with the law firm Pillsbury said during a webinar on "DC Disrupted: Upcoming Tariffs & Trade Actions," said after notices seeking comments on the investigations had been posted.
CBP has prepared a list of Frequently Asked Questions on duties on goods made in China and Hong Kong that were recently implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The FAQs are on CBP's website, and they address issues such as calculating duties for goods that have been excluded from Section 301 duties, the conditions under which brokers may file goods using informal entry, and which goods qualify for exemptions, as defined by HTS headings, among other things.
Given that more than half of imports from Canada and Mexico don't claim USMCA preferences, trade lawyers and customs experts are expecting a sharp and rapid increase in entries that claim the preference.
Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, criticized President Donald Trump's executive actions, predecessor Joe Biden's rulemaking and a past bill that moved through Ways and Means that aimed to curtail de minimis in various ways. She called them all "half-measures or simply playing Whac-A-Mole with specific countries."