International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 20-24 in case they were missed.
A third of Ohio farmers' production is exported, and 25 percent of Ohio's manufacturing jobs are supported by exports, said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who was U.S. Trade Representative during the George W. Bush administration. Portman, who gave a speech on the Senate floor the evening of May 22, praised the Trump administration for lifting Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico so that the NAFTA rewrite can be passed in Congress and in Mexico and Canada.
The Cato Institute and the National Foreign Trade Council recently filed amicus briefs supporting the American Institute for International Steel’s Supreme Court challenge of the constitutionality of Section 232 tariffs on iron and steel products. In a brief filed May 17, Cato argues that the iron and steel tariffs themselves exceeded the authority provided in Section 232 and ignored factors considered in Section 232 actions taken in the past. The NFTC went a step further in a brief filed the same day, calling the underlying law itself the “rare sort of unbridled delegation of authority that transgresses constitutional bounds.” An agricultural exporter has also filed an amicus brief in support of AIIS, citing the harm from retaliatory tariffs (see 1905210024).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1908 on May 20, containing 212 Automated Broker Interface records and 43 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes adjustments related to the reduction of Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey (see 1905170004). Modifications required by the verification of the 2019 HTS are included as well.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 13-17 in case they were missed.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would like some help from the Senate to move the House toward ratifying the new NAFTA, he said while speaking at the Senate Republicans' lunch about prospects for ratification and the work he's doing to get a trade deal done with Japan. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Lighthizer told them to convince colleagues in the House to support it. "It was just cheerleading, 'rah, rah, sis boom bah,'" Kennedy complained. "I hope I'm wrong, but I don't understand why my colleagues think that Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi's going to agree to anything that will help the president. But I mean, I wish she would put the country first, but if you believe in watching what people do, not what they say, I'm not encouraged."
Importers of steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico no longer need to report HTS numbers 9903.80.01 or 9903.85.01 now that the Section 232 tariffs have been lifted from Mexico and Canada, CBP said in a CSMS message. "Effective for goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on May 20, 2019, the Section 232 duty on imports of steel and aluminum articles with a country of origin of Canada or Mexico will no longer be in effect," the agency said. Steel importers should report the regular Chapter 72 or 73 subheadings, while aluminum importers should report the regular Chapter 76 numbers, CBP said. Both Canada and Mexico also annunced an end their retaliatory tariffs (see 1905200054).
The Trump administration tried for months to insist that Mexico and Canada accept quotas on their steel and aluminum, and the fact that the administration lifted its tariffs on those metals on its NAFTA partners without any import restrictions shows "just how much the Administration has invested in passage of the USMCA," wrote Ted Murphy, managing partner of the Baker McKenzie office, in a blog post.
The Coalition for GSP criticized Turkey’s removal from the Generalized System of Preferences program in a statement following the White House's May 16 announcement, saying the move will impose “tens of million of dollars in taxes annually.” President Donald Trump said Turkey no longer qualifies as a developing country, which means Turkey will also be subject to Section 201 safeguards on solar cells and washing machines. The removal of Turkey from GSP takes effect May 17. In a separate proclamation, the White House announced that the 50 percent Section 232 tariff on Turkish steel in place since August will return to 25 percent on May 21