The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on Feb. 19. The following headquarters rulings not involving carriers were modified on Feb. 18, according to CBP:
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative is set to publish a notice Feb. 20 listing some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China (see 2002190005). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
The Canadian Parliament is moving the successor to NAFTA along, so that a March ratification vote is still looking likely, news from Canada says. While the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be reviewed by the agriculture, natural resources and industry/science/technology committees, not just the trade committee, the other committees only have until Feb. 25 for that review, a report from ipolitics said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the third group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "one 10-digit HTSUS subheading," which covers 6 requests, and "46 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 61 exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the third set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
The proportion of smartphones imported from China dropped from almost 80% to just under 75% last year, according to government data, at the same time total imports fell 1.7%.
CBP added on Jan. 14 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 2001020035) should report the regular Chapters 4, 40, 42, 44, 54, 55, 56, 58, 73, 76, 79, 82, 84, 85, 87, 90 and 94 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.37, CBP said in the message. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when” subheading 9903.88.37 is submitted, CBP said.
CBP's treatment of goods from foreign-trade zones that are subject to the recently decreased Section 301 tariffs should go through a notice a comment process because it amounts to a change in policy, the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones said in a Feb. 18 letter to the agency. “The 'level playing field' (i.e., providing U.S. FTZs and bonded warehouses equal Customs duty treatment), is a fundamental [principle] of U.S. law governing FTZs, has always been protected in the current Trade Remedy environment,” it said. A lawyer for the NAFTZ recently explained the arguments and said the letter was coming (see 2002120011).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 10-14 in case they were missed.
The International Trade Commission recently issued two new revisions to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Changes include new and amended exclusions from Section 301 tariffs from China, as well as a decrease in tariffs for goods on list 4A. The ITC also implemented new Section 232 tariffs on some finished goods of steel and aluminum that took effect Feb. 8, as well as a shift to a quarterly tariff-rate quota for imports of large residential washers subject to Section 201 safeguard duties.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2001 on Feb. 13, containing 12,922 Automated Broker Interface records and 2,380 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes the Section 301 tariff decrease for goods on list 4A (see 2001160019) and the expanded Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum goods, it said. It also includes recently released Section 301 tariff exclusions (see 2002030008).