The Commerce Department is amending the final results of its antidumping duty administrative review on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Mexico (A-201-830) (here), dropping the AD duty cash deposit rate for Deacero S.A.P.I. de C.V. and Deacero USA, Inc to zero percent. Because of Deacero's de minimis rate, Commerce will also liquidate all entries of subject merchandise exported by Deacero and entered Oct. 1, 2012 through Sept. 30, 2013 without assessing AD duties on importers.
The emergence of e-commerce is requiring some new considerations as individual sellers are increasingly involved in internationals transactions, said panelists during a May 12 U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on supply chains. While the new challenges may point to the need for some revised policies, it's difficult to "inject the interests of the multitude" of stakeholders involved at the border, said Brenda Smith, CBP assistant commissioner in the Office of International Trade.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 20-24 in case they were missed.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the four major trade bills up for consideration at its April 23 markup, following a full day of debate on the legislation. The committee ultimately sent to the House floor Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance, a preference package and a Customs Reauthorization bill. Committee lawmakers approved the same TPA, TAA and preference package bills the Senate Finance Committee endorsed the day before (see 1504230001). TPA passed in a partisan vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans in support. The other three bills passed by voice vote, a committee spokesman said.
The Agricultural Marketing Service will increase from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds the de minimis exception under which “Irish”-type Potatoes can be imported without having to meet grade, size, quality or maturity requirements. The agency's final rule, which takes effect April 27 allows importation of up to 2000 pounds of all round-type potatoes, except round red-skinned or long-type potatoes, without regard to the AMS import regulations. .
Drawback modernization, an increase in the de minimis level to $800, and an exemption from duties for container residue are components of the customs reauthorization bill set for inclusion in the package of trade legislation coming together in Congress, according to a summary of the draft bill from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (here). The customs reauthorization bill, introduced in the Senate (here), would also provide for enhanced trade enforcement, including databases of new importers and importer of record numbers, the ability for CBP to share unredacted samples of articles suspected to infringe intellectual property rights, and timelines for formal CBP investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion. Highlights of the summary, which was provided by Hatch in anticipation of a markup scheduled for April 22 (see 1504200054), are as follows:
Lawmakers introduced trade preference renewal legislation that will include the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences and two tariff preference levels for imports from Haiti as part of a wider trade push. Those renewals and other trade bills are expected to progress alongside Trade Promotion Authority, introduced April 16, said Congressional aides. Though some details are still being worked out, a customs reauthorization bill is also expected to be part of the package, said the aides.
Reps. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, and Ron Kind, D-Wis., re-introduced legislation on April 14 to scale back CBP authority to impose duties on bulk cargo residue. The Residue Entries and Streamlining Act, HR-1773, would amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to exempt residue from duty. The bill describes residue as material that remains in an instrument of international trade after bulk cargo is removed, but only material “with a quantity, by weight or volume, not exceeding seven percent of the bulk cargo, and with no or de minimis value.”
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices for April 8-10 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue final regulations on formaldehyde in wood flooring “late this year,” it said in an update posted to its website (here). The agency received a “large number” of comments on its proposed rule (see 13060715), and is “carefully considering the comments in developing the final rule,” it said. Trade associations criticized importer certification requirements and the lack of a de minimis level in comments following the publication of the proposed rule in 2013 (see 13101816). EPA also posted a questions and answers section to its website (here) in response to concerns from consumers prompted by media reports of excessive formaldehyde in wood sold by Lumber Liquidators (see 1503260020).