CBP recently posted answers to a set of frequently asked questions about the withhold release order aimed at silica-based products from China. The June 24 WRO applies to silicon produced by Hoshine Silicon Industry, a company located in China's Xinjiang province, and its subsidiaries (see 2106240062). The FAQs add some more details for how CBP will be administering the WRO.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from July 19-23 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is moving forward with an expansion of its import program to focus on e-commerce and de minimis shipments, said Jim Joholske, director of CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance, at CBP’s Virtual Trade Week July 22. Recent increases in funding for the agency means CPSC now has the resources to focus on small shipments, and will allow CPSC to staff express carrier, air cargo and international mail facilities with import personnel, he said.
A panel of CBP officials told members of the trade community that they're still considering how to shape a rulemaking based on what they've learned from the Entry Type 86 test and the Section 321 data pilot, but they expect to require 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes on de minimis entries that PGAs have an interest in.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 21-25 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP will exempt some filers from the requirement to file a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading on low value shipments that do not have PGA requirements once it finalizes new data elements for Section 321 shipments, Brandon Lord, acting CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, said at the June 23 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee.
The Treasury Department published its spring 2021 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda includes some details about a proposal to change USMCA rules for non-preferential origin determinations for merchandise imported from Canada or Mexico. The proposal was previously disclosed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, within the Office of Management and Budget (see 2105120051), where it remains under review.
The China package once known as the Endless Frontier Act passed the Senate with 68 votes. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act includes a trade amendment that authorizes a new Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, restarts applications for Section 301 tariff exclusions, adds an inspector general to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, renews the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program for more than five years and directs the CBP to increase inspections of imports with the aim of finding counterfeits. The bill passed the evening of June 8.
An amendment that will allow expanded information sharing from CBP on counterfeits, and which will renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, will be part of the China package expected to pass the week of June 8. The amendment, sponsored by Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, was modified slightly from its first introduction, when it failed to pass the filibuster threshold of 60 votes. This version, which passed with 91 votes on May 27, no longer expands a forced labor initiative on seafood to all seafood products.
The day before the first USMCA Free Trade Commission meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, talked about how to strengthen North American supply chains, combat forced labor and climate change, and reform the World Trade Organization.