The Trump administration in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation will push for "disciplines on the use of customs brokers," for Canada and Mexico to raise their de minimis levels, and to eliminate the binational dispute settlement process for challenging duties, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its renegotiation objectives released July 17 (here). Another objective is to provide for streamlined and expedited customs treatment for express shipments, including for shipments valued over the de minimis threshold.
Several senators submitted preferences for the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative leading up to the agency’s expected July 17 release of negotiating objectives for the agreement. Among the requests was a push for increased Canadian and Mexican de minimis thresholds. Others in separate letters to the USTR said NAFTA should address digital commerce and agricultural issues in North American trade.
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The Food and Drug Administration updated a 1994 notice that identified categories of products that can be released by CBP without FDA notification when under the de minimis value (Section 321) to reflect some recent changes, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). While the FDA already updated a regulatory procedural manual after the CBP de minimis threshold was increased from $200 to $800 (here), that 1994 notice was due for an update, it said. "Based on conversations with stakeholders, FDA reporting requirements for de minimis shipments were unclear given FDA’s legacy CSMS messages on such low value shipments," it said.
The Trump administration should push for preclearance provisions in any updated North American free trade agreement, several members of the trade said during a June 29 hearing. NAFTA negotiations should fortify elements of the Obama administration’s Beyond the Border vision such as a common U.S.-Canadian single-window platform and cargo preclearance mechanism, Daniel Ujczo, a representative for the Canada-U.S. Business Association and American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said during a hearing at the International Trade Commission convened by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “The mix of technology of single window as well as allowing preclearance at facilities themselves would significantly advance Canada and U.S. and North American trade.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is authorizing tariff benefits for travel goods in Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading 4202 under the Generalized System of Preferences, USTR said (see 1706290053). “According to the information provided in the course of USTR’s review, making travel goods GSP-eligible for all GSP beneficiaries is expected to be neutral with respect to overall U.S. import levels, and therefore also to the U.S. trade balance, though this action may shift some of the overseas production of these products from non-GSP countries to GSP countries,” USTR said in a statement. The White House also released a presidential proclamation on GSP and other duty-free treatment (here).
The U.S. Trade Representative is authorizing duty free treatment for certain travel goods of heading 4202 under the Generalized System of Preferences, it said in a list of the results of its 2016-2017 GSP Review (here). The list also includes USTR’s decisions to add other products to GSP, including certain rolled grains and essential oils of lemon, as well as USTR’s decisions on competitive need limitation and de minimis waivers. The changes take effect July 1.
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AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will raise the need for a worldwide unique facility identifier when he travels to Brussels in early July for a meeting of the World Customs Organization policy council, Valerie Neuhart, acting director of CBP’s Office of Trade Relations, said on June 21. McAleenan will be joined in the effort by representatives from Canada and Mexico, who have also been in discussions with CBP about harmonizing unique facility identifiers, she said, speaking during a panel discussion of upcoming ACE priorities at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference.
AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP will announce in the “coming weeks” a new strategy to address the recent explosion of e-commerce imports, said Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference on June 21. The new approach will combine engagement and education of the trade community, and in particular small importers, with internal changes that will help ports deal with surging volumes of shipments, he said.