Despite a lack of response to her last two letters, Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind,, has sent another letter to the Commerce Department about what she called "a glaring lack of transparency, fairness, efficiency and consistency" in how the steel and aluminum Section 232 exclusion requests are handled. She noted that this time, she is also sending the letter to the inspector general for the department.
CBP issued filing instructions for goods subject to the tariffs on goods from Europe set to begin on Oct. 18 (see 1910020044). The Oct. 17 CSMS message includes instructions for "submitting an entry summary in which a heading or subheading in Chapter 98 and/or 99 is claimed on imported merchandise" and the sequence order for reporting the tariff numbers. The additional duties of either 10 percent or 25 percent "are effective on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on October 18, 2019," it said.
The Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey are still at 25 percent, a CBP spokesperson said. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 14 that the tariffs would increase to 50 percent but didn't give a time frame (see 1910140004). The CBP spokesperson didn't say when the increase would take effect. Previous changes to Section 232 tariffs, including the previous increase and decrease to the tariffs on Turkish steel, were made through Presidential Proclamation. Neither the Commerce Department nor the White House commented.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Assistant Secretary for Enforcement Jeffrey Kessler defended the Trump administration's aggressive use of tariffs, at a Federalist Society event Oct. 15. Ross said, "I believe the Chinese came to the negotiations primarily because we imposed substantial tariffs on them," and he touted their promise to buy $40 billion to $50 billion worth of agricultural commodities over a two-year period. He said that's more than twice the typical annual sales figure before the retaliatory tariffs from China on soybeans, pork and other goods.
The Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey will soon again go from 25 percent to 50 percent, President Donald Trump said in a tweet, that includes a linked statement. The change in tariffs are the result of Turkey's "destabilizing actions in northeast Syria." The tariffs were previously increased to 50 percent, but were reduced back to 25 percent in May. Trump also said the U.S. would stop negotiating a trade deal with Turkey.
CBP is reviewing the "2019 Q4 Absolute Quota Section 232 quota limits," the agency said in a CSMS message. "CBP will issue a revised 2019 Q4 Absolute Quota, Quota Bulletin (QB) on Tuesday October 15," it said.
CBP noticed a "quota limit error" after it opened the Section 232 4th Quarter Steel and Aluminum quota on Oct. 1, an agency official said by email on Oct. 4. The error applied specifically to Brazil quota HTSUS 9903.80.57, one of the 162 items, the official said. "As a result, the proration to the 4 filers that filled the limit by 8:30 [a.m.] Eastern [Daylight] Time was incorrect," the official said. "The limit correction was made on October 3, 2019 and the 4 [a]ffected filers were contacted to retransmit the appropriate entries. Each of the erroneously prorated entries have now been provided with the correct proration."
CBP has assessed about $41 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Oct. 2, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $31 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, up around $4 billion from about a month ago. The assessed tariffs under Section 301 now include the 15 percent tariffs that took effect on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066). CBP also has assessed about $8.1 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $1.7 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells (see 1801230052), imposed Jan. 23, 2018, account for $1.1 billion in assessed tariffs.
In the Sept. 25 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 53, No. 34), CBP published notices that propose to revoke or modify rulings and similar treatment for headboards, footboards and side rails imported in separate shipments, and steel tubing.
India blocked a first request from the U.S. for the World Trade Organization to form a panel to judge whether the hike in tariffs that India instituted because of the U.S. tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum breaks the rules. The panel is automatically convened after a second request. India delayed retaliating for the Section 232 tariffs for many months, but put them in place after the U.S. removed India from the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program.