Almost three years after environmental groups asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to ask the tri-national Commission on Environmental Cooperation to establish a formal factual record of Mexico's failure to enforce its ban on gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California in Mexico (see 2108130052), that commission will begin such a fact-finding mission.
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 4 to the 2024 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS adds new 10-digit tariff numbers for a variety of products, including integrated circuits and plantation-harvested teak. All changes take effect July 1, unless otherwise specified.
Changes to the USMCA rules of origin (ROOs) have "had a positive economic impact on the U.S. and North American auto industry, although with some challenges in implementation and new challenges emerging," according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The USTR report to Congress, mandated by Congress when NAFTA was rewritten, noted that carmakers "are still adjusting to the full scope of USMCA’s autos rules," with 13 entities given extended time to meet the stricter rules, at least for some models.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website June 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.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register June 26 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The U.S. has filed a rapid response labor mechanism complaint against Industrias Tecnos in Cuernavaca, Morelos, and has asked CBP to suspend liquidation on the ammunition made at the plant.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., called on the Biden administration to either start a USMCA dispute or initiate a Section 301 investigation to punish Canada for passing a retroactive tax on digital services.
Canada's Trade Minister Mary Ng, under questions from parties to the left and right of her Liberal party, as well as the Québécois party, said the fact that there are outstanding disagreements between Canada and the U.S. on U.S. trade remedies on softwood lumber, on auto rules of origin and on Canadian dairy import restrictions does not mean that Canada will get big-footed in the free trade review.
House Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., during a hearing on competition with China in the Western Hemisphere, argued that the shortages experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic show that businesses should move supply chains to the Western Hemisphere.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told a think tank audience that the U.S. needs to negotiate and Congress needs to ratify new broad trade agreements, so that the U.S. can develop long-term sources of processed minerals needed for electrification.