ATLANTA -- Customs proposals put forth by Mexico during the NAFTA renegotiation include language covering joint cargo processing along the U.S.’s southern border and manifest harmonization, Jose Garcia, representative for taxation and customs affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said Dec. 5, during the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium. “These are new ideas Mexico has put on the table,” Garcia said.
ATLANTA -- CBP is waiting for NAFTA negotiations to “mature” before making a final decision on how it will handle Section 321 shipments, Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said during opening remarks at the East Coast Trade Symposium on Dec. 5. Though the agency had “hoped to articulate a clear path forward” at the conference, the agency has to “let that dialogue play out with our key partners in Canada and Mexico,” he said.
Disagreement on de minimis thresholds is the one obstacle to closing an updated NAFTA customs chapter, an area where talks have progressed significantly during the ongoing renegotiation of the pact, according to three sources with knowledge of discussions. Advancement on the de minimis issue principally depends on Canada’s level of willingness to increase its $15 (USD) threshold, after Canadian negotiators declined to engage on the issue following contentious U.S. proposals pitched during the fourth negotiating round in Arlington, Virginia, two of the sources said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative late on the afternoon of Nov. 17 released an updated list of NAFTA negotiating objectives, including new language on objectives to “increase transparency” in import and export licensing processes among the parties and to reinforce commitments to continue practices to review and correct countries’ final administrative actions, “if warranted.” The updated list continues most of the language of the original negotiating objectives released in July (see 1707180022), including all of the same customs proposals, consisting of positions to raise Canada’s and Mexico’s de minimis thresholds to $800, reduce customs documents and procedural formalities, and provisions to provide for automation for import, export and transit processes.
US Willing to Negotiate Bilateral FTAs With Any APEC Country as Non-US TPP Moves Forward, Trump Says
The U.S. is willing to negotiate bilateral trade agreements on the basis of fairness and reciprocity with “any country” in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group region, President Donald Trump told other nations’ leaders during the 25th annual APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Nov. 11 in Da Nang, Vietnam, according to a White House fact sheet. Trump's remarks come after trade ministers from the now 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP-11) member states on Nov. 9 and 10, in Da Nang, Vietnam, reached an agreement to implement the deal without the U.S., which withdrew in January (see 1701300020).
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 13 (some may also be given separate headlines):
CBP plans to launch a “proof of concept and/or pilot” in fiscal year 2018 on the potential applications of blockchain technology for trade, according to a document from the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Emerging Technologies Working Group. The agency is currently working with the trade community to develop “use cases” wherein blockchain could improve trade processes, and held an invitation-only blockchain workshop in October to discuss ideas. “There appears to be opportunity among the trade community to either track/validate goods in their supply chain to support due diligence or potentially to support verifiable claims to CBP for audit/compliance purposes,” the paper says.
The Commerce Department announced its negative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty investigation on citric acid and certain citrate salts from Thailand (C-549-834). Commerce calculated de minimis CV duty rates for all Thai exporters under investigation, and will not suspend liquidation or collect cash deposits for entries of citric acid from Thailand at this time. Commerce may still change its mind in the final determination, which is currently due March 14. Antidumping duty investigations continue on citric acid from Thailand, Belgium and Colombia, with Commerce's preliminary AD duty determination due Dec. 29 (see 1710310013).
A memorandum of agreement between the Commerce Department and the Department of Homeland Security signed last week includes plans to work together in looking at and updating customs processes to help facilitate e-commerce. “Having the infrastructure in place to help U.S. companies compete for these e-commerce sales is crucial to our nation’s position in the global marketplace,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an Oct. 19 news release. Specifically, DHS seeks to "develop a position on the de minimis threshold increase" to reflect CBP "reprogramming requirements, as well as changes to DHS’s and other partner government agencies’ risk analysis processes for shipments no longer subject to customs duties," the agreement says. "DHS aims to ensure that risk measures applied to low value goods do not unnecessarily burden trade, as Congress intended."
The Agricultural Marketing Service will continue its 15 million board feet de minimis threshold under the softwood lumber information order, it said in a final rule. As provided in the 2011 final rule creating the softwood lumber order (see 11080216), importers that import less than 15 million board feet of softwood lumber are exempt from assessments, as long as they apply annually for a certificate of exemption and provide documentation to support their request. A federal court in 2016 had struck down the 15 million board feet threshold, finding the number arbitrary, but left the softwood lumber regulations in place while AMS reconsidered. The new final rule takes effect Nov. 27.