CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP is unable to say much about a proposal to eliminate the de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, said Brandon Lord, CBP Office of Trade deputy executive director for trade policy and programs. Lord mentioned the proposal during a CBP Virtual Trade Week session Sept. 10. “Assuming that [the Office of Management and Budget] approves the proposed rule,” it will be eventually published in the Federal Register and opened for public comments, he said. He said the proposal was recently picked up by the “trade industry press” (see 2009040026), and that “it's difficult for us to make a lot of comments on this,” due to “restrictions around the rulemaking process.”
July laptop and tablet unit imports to the U.S. continued their torrid growth from a year earlier, though July growth was flat sequentially from June, according to Census Bureau data accessed Sept. 6 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Shortages of laptop liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and central processing units (CPUs) threaten to impede sales as the supply chain buckles under the weight of sustained consumer demand for notebook PCs as “essential” work-from-home and remote-learning connectivity tools, market leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell said during earnings calls in August.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Aug. 31-Sept. 4 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The International Trade Commission recently issued two revisions to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement changes to exclusions on tariffs from China, as well as modifications of Section 301 tariffs on the European Union and Section 232 tariffs on aluminum from Canada. In Revision 20, issued Aug. 31, the ITC implemented recent changes to Section 301 tariffs on the European Union that removed cheeses from Greece and sweet biscuits from the United Kingdom, while adding fruit jams and purees from France and Germany to the list of goods subject to tariffs (see 2008130031). New subheading 9903.89.55 is added to implement some of the changes. The ITC also implemented new and amended exclusions from list three Section 301 tariffs on products from China (see 2008210003).
CBP is apparently working on a regulatory change that would eliminate the $800 de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. The agency on Sept. 2 submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled, “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website. OMB’s reviews are the final step before publication of a rule, and include an interagency review. CBP did not immediately comment.
CBP is apparently working on a regulatory change that would eliminate the $800 de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. The agency on Sept. 2 submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 2 declined to order the release of an importer’s entries that were detained by CBP on country of origin concerns, finding the uncertainty around its own contradictory line of cases on substantial transformation was a factor in denying the bid for a preliminary injunction.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 24-30:
CBP will add the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Sept. 3, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published Aug. 24 (see 2008210003). The two exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.48. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions are already expired but will apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and through Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.