A "back to basics" webinar on de minimis presented by CBP, which was watched by more than 1,900 in the trade community, didn't elaborate on the suspensions of customs brokers from Type 86, though CBP official Felicia Pullam said the agency has heard "a lot of concern in the trade community about this enforcement."
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The gaps in trade policies between the U.S. and Europe, despite their agreement on the problems, and the difficulty of improving trade relations with major developing countries were grappled with this week by a panel of experts from the U.S. and Europe.
A bipartisan letter from six senators is asking CBP and USDA to do more to verify that used cooking oil that is imported is truly used, and not blended with virgin palm oil. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the June 20 letter, with support from Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
The head of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force told an audience convened by the Consumer Technology Association that Volkswagen "did the right thing" when it self-reported it had a tiny component made by a company recently added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. The task force is responsible for adding companies to the list.
Crowell & Moring international trade lawyer David Stepp advised businesses, on a podcast hosted by his firm, that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is requiring importers "to map their supply chains to a level never seen before," and that since CBP is subscribing to services that use AI to uncover connections, "we really think it's important for clients to take this extra step."
Canada's Trade Minister Mary Ng, under questions from parties to the left and right of her Liberal party, as well as the Québécois party, said the fact that there are outstanding disagreements between Canada and the U.S. on U.S. trade remedies on softwood lumber, on auto rules of origin and on Canadian dairy import restrictions does not mean that Canada will get big-footed in the free trade review.
House Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., during a hearing on competition with China in the Western Hemisphere, argued that the shortages experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic show that businesses should move supply chains to the Western Hemisphere.
There was no disagreement at a June 12 hearing on the need to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act before it expires about 15 months from now, and Democrats and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade also talked about changing the terms of "graduation" from AGOA. Democrats on the committee were more vocal than members of the Republican majority about the need to change AGOA before renewing it.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told a think tank audience that the U.S. needs to negotiate and Congress needs to ratify new broad trade agreements, so that the U.S. can develop long-term sources of processed minerals needed for electrification.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore. asked BMW to come clean after what he characterized as "shifting explanations" about its use of components made by a company added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list.