The Commerce Department issued the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from South Korea (C-580-837). Commerce found both companies under review, Hyundai Steel Company and Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd., received de minimis illegal subsidies during the period of review, assigning each of them a zero percent CV duty rate. Subject merchandise from Hyundai and DSM entered Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017, will be liquidated without any assessment of CV duties, and future entries of subject merchandise from Hyundai and DSM will not be subject to CV duty cash deposit requirements until further notice. Changes to cash deposit rates from these final results take effect Aug. 19.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP is issuing a notice formally announcing the beginning of a pilot to test a new type of informal entry in ACE for low-value shipments. New entry type 86 will allow importers of goods valued under the $800 de minimis level to file a less complex entry, including for goods subject to partner government agency (PGA) requirements, “and will expedite the clearance of compliant Section 321 low-valued shipments,” CBP said. The test will begin “no earlier than,” Sept. 28.
A "Denied Commodity List" that includes "products and/or sources subject to known" intellectual property rights violations is one possible way to slow trade in counterfeit goods, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee said in comments dated Aug. 1 and posted Aug. 6 in docket DOC-2019-0003. Such a list might include "products and supply chains adjudicated as violating counterfeiting or piracy laws and/or regulations on at least more than one occasion," the COAC said. The comments are in response to President Donald Trump’s April 3 memorandum that directed the Commerce Department to collaborate with other federal agencies on a report due Oct. 30 with recommendations about how to reduce the bad behavior (see 1907080030).
A third party logistics provider in Toronto will offer a new service to take advantage of Section 321 de minimis exemptions, the company said in an Aug. 7 news release. Stalco, the 3PL, will let "U.S. sellers have their inventory shipped from countries, such as China, directly to Stalco’s distribution centre in Canada," it said. "Where applicable, duty is paid to Canada Customs (CBSA) on the cost of goods," it said. "Stalco then picks, packs and ships the client’s U.S. consumer orders and automatically files for a refund with CBSA on the previously paid duty, on the seller’s behalf. Consumer orders with a value less than US $800 do not attract duty on entry to the USA when imported under the Section 321 clearance type." This service "allows companies to eliminate their duty costs when selling goods directly to U.S. consumers," the company said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 29 - Aug. 2 in case they were missed.
The lack of information provided to the government for low-value shipments is a major impediment to stopping imports of counterfeit goods, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America told the Commerce Department in a July 29 filing. The comments were filed in response to Commerce's request for input on the subject as it prepares a report for the president (see 1907080030). "For de minimis shipments valued at $800 or less, CBP clears shipments by processing data from manifests, which provides only limited data and does not include the information most needed for effective commercial targeting," the group said.
Although 10 of the 27 members of the Senate Finance Committee asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to leave de minimis where it is -- including the chairman and ranking member -- the USTR has remained non-committal on whether the implementing bill will change U.S. law for the NAFTA region. As Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., put it in a brief hallway interview at the Capitol before the Senate recessed on Aug. 2, "He hasn’t said one way or the other on that."
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said that while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer may say he's consulting with the Finance Committee on changing de minimis levels for Canada and Mexico in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, "he hasn't consulted with me." Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was responding to a question from International Trade Today about how the committee could get past the impasse where members repeatedly tell USTR they want de minimis to stay as it is, and he says his staff are consulting with Congress before making a decision.
The footnote in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that says that the U.S. could change its de minimis level to match Canada's and Mexico's levels was roundly rejected by the Senate Finance Committee on July 30, when the topic was one of the most-discussed aspects of the deal. Paula Barnett, owner of Paula Elaine Barnett jewelry, was the first witness who testified, and she told the committee that she does not want U.S. de minimis levels lowered, because she doesn't have to pay tariffs when goods are returned from outside the country, and because she purchases opals from Mexico, and those purchases are under the $800 threshold.