International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Major automakers and battery makers disagreed about how granular the EV battery supply chain rules should be, but most agreed that diverging from the battery timeline requirement, which begins in 2023, would allow far more vehicles to qualify for tax credits, thereby accelerating adoption of cleaner cars, trucks and SUVs.
On passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, electric vehicles manufactured overseas were instantly disqualified from the $7,500 tax credit. In January, even cars manufactured in the U.S. will be eligible only if they are below certain price thresholds, and meet battery component local content thresholds. Those thresholds ramp up in 2024, as do those for the critical minerals in batteries.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a free-trade-skeptical advocacy group, criticized CBP for issuing a report that said the value of goods that entered under de minimis in the previous fiscal year was $39,876,651,152 (see 2210180031). The group's trade counsel, Charles Benoit, wrote on Oct. 26 that CBP never disclosed a dollar figure before "because CBP does not know the true value for any period of time. They do not know because the majority of de minimis shipments arrive via international mail, and most international mail shipments do not contain electronic data."
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP released a report Oct. 17 with detailed statistics on Section 321 de minimis shipments during fiscal years 2018 through 2021. The report shows a continuous rise in volume of shipments during the period, which ended Sept. 30, 2021, from about 400 million to about 770 million. The value of shipments declined during the latter years of the period, however, rising from about $30 million in 2018 to about $56 million in 2019 and $67 million in 2020, before falling to about $40 million in 2021. The report also contains statistics on seizures by type, by mode of transportation and by country of shipment, as well as whether refused shipments were abandoned or returned to sender.
Trade participants in the 21st Century Customs Framework “focus group” are set to meet with CBP and other government officials Oct. 17 and 18 to discuss a series of proposed statutory changes developed over recent weeks that aim to incorporate facilitation measures into upcoming customs modernization legislation.
The Commerce Department issued the preliminary results of a countervailing duty administrative review of cold-rolled steel flat products from South Korea (C-580-882). In the final results of this review, Commerce will set assessment rates for importers of subject merchandise from 47 exporters under review that was entered Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020.
FDA is proposing to amend its regulations on administrative detention to provide for the destruction of low value medical devices that have been refused admission to the U.S., and modify its procedures so the agency can more easily destroy low value shipments of drugs, it said in a notice released Oct. 6. Comments on the proposal are due Dec. 6.