CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely on March 17, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 16.
Board members and people who provide services to foreign-trade zones talked about what the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones should work on now that it lost the battle on USMCA rules of origin treatment for goods produced in those zones. “Now that provision’s back in the act, it’s going to be a real challenge,” said Melissa Irmen, chair of the NAFTZ board. The group wants to make sure a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade agreement doesn't prohibit goods made in FTZs from qualifying for rules of origin, as USMCA does. “They are concerned that the USMCA approach could be a precedent.”
National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones President Erik Autor told two think tank scholars Feb. 11 that the organization's goal is to get Congress and other policymakers to see how the FTZ program can fit in the broader trade policy agenda. The trade group was disappointed that the USMCA technical fixes returned to the NAFTA rules of origin approach for FTZs, and wants to ensure that language is not repeated in any future free trade agreements, he said during his group's virtual summit. NAFTZ believes that allowing goods constructed in FTZs to receive USMCA benefits, if they meet the rules of origin, supports the new administration's Made in America ethos.
Blueberries will escape Section 201 safeguards, after the International Trade Commission on Feb. 11 voted that the domestic blueberry industry isn’t injured by a flood of imports. As a result of the ITC’s negative injury finding, the commission’s investigation will end, and it will not recommend any import restrictions to the president.
Labor and civil society representatives, along with a former Democratic House Ways and Means Committee staffer, said dramatic changes are needed in the trading system, not just tweaks, to make trade a force for good in the world.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Feb. 1-5 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told an online audience Feb. 9 during a Washington International Trade Association conference that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program will be restored this year, and that the benefits will be retroactive. He added, “I think that for all of its past successes, and I have been a supporter, it needs to be updated to keep us in line with progress as it relates to trade policy.”
The Biden administration announced a slew of appointments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that do not require Senate confirmation, allowing the agency to get its agenda underway as U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai awaits a hearing and a floor vote.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Feb. 8. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP: