An advance notice of proposed rulemaking on customs broker continuing education requirements (see 2009140033) is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Oct. 28, said John Leonard, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, during the virtual Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 23. The advance notice will be available for preview on the public inspection site on Oct. 27, he said. “It's a great ANPRM, if I do say so myself.”
IRobot anticipates “going back to a world” of 25% Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-sourced goods once its List 3 tariff exclusion expires Dec. 31, CEO Colin Angle said on a Q3 call Oct. 21. The pandemic delayed iRobot’s “original plans” to shift most U.S.-bound production to Malaysia by the end of 2020 to reduce or eliminate its Chinese tariff exposure (see 2002070006), instead pushing the Malaysia transition “well into 2021,” he said.
Talks toward a comprehensive trade agreement with the United Kingdom would likely continue under a Joe Biden administration, though when a deal could be reached is unclear, K&L Gates partner Stacy Ettinger said during a webinar on how trade policy would change if there is an administration change after the election, or progress if there is a second Trump administration. Ettinger, a staffer for Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., before joining the private sector, was joined by former White House trade staffer Clete Willems, now at Akin Gump, during a webinar Oct. 20 hosted by American University's law school.
HMTX Industries and Jasco Products, the initial filers of the Section 301 litigation seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings and get the duties refunded, strongly oppose the Department of Justice’s prolonged briefing format and schedule proposed Oct. 19 in a motion for case management procedures (see 2010200022), Akin Gump said in a response Oct. 22 at the Court of International Trade. Under the government’s proposal, the parties would not begin to argue the “merits of this dispute” before 2022 or beyond, it said. “Given the ongoing harms to thousands of plaintiffs, among others, that protracted schedule is unacceptable.”
An economist in Europe and one in the U.S. say policymakers talking about the vulnerabilities of supply chains are drawing the wrong conclusions from the shortages of personal protective equipment, but while they say policy decisions should be fact-based, it's not clear that procurement professionals can influence the politicians. Simon Evenett, an international trade professor at Switzerland's University of St. Gallen, said during a Peterson Institute for International Economics program that in most medical goods and medicines, China is not the largest supplier, though it is for PPE.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 12-18:
Grunfeld Desiderio counseled clients in the Section 301 litigation to consider a “sliding scale” of options on filing timely complaints within the two-year statute of limitations window that qualifies importers to recover duties paid if the suits are successful, partner Ned Marshak said in an Oct. 19 interview. The firm filed more than 800 of the nearly 3,600 complaints inundating the Court of International Trade. Its Sept. 16 complaint on behalf of YC Rubber was the first to follow Akin Gump's suit for lead plaintiff HMTX Industries.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 13-16 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu of the U.S. Court of International Trade should “automatically stay” all but the lead HMTX Industries-Jasco Products complaint in the Section 301 litigation and designate HMTX-Jasco as the “test case,” the Department of Justice said in an Oct. 19 motion to adopt case management procedures. All the nearly 3,600 complaints inundating the CIT seek to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings and get the duties refunded. The roster of complaints attached to DOJ’s motion takes up 187 pages.
The International Trade Commission on Oct. 14 issued Revision 23 to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The latest edition implements extensions to exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on products from China under new subheadings 9903.88.60 and 9903.88.61 (see 2010010038). A few technical corrections are also made to General Note 11 on USMCA.