USMCA

The International Trade Commission recently issued several revisions to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement new and amended Section 301 exclusions and complete its July 1 implementation of USMCA. Most recently, in Revision 17, issued July 28, the ITC implemented a new round of exclusions from list 4 Section 301 tariffs under U.S. Note 20(fff) to subchapter III of Chapter 99, and new subheading 9903.88.53 (see 2007210026). The ITC also amended tariff numbers listed for some exclusions in U.S. Note 20(ddd).

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories from July 20-24 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

House Ways and Means Committee Democrats are asking Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer why the money provided for the Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs is not supporting worker organizing, as the implementing act suggested.

A recent revision to the tariff schedule changes treatment of goods returned after assembly from Canada or Mexico under subheading 9802.00.80, allowing products of the U.S. assembled in Canada or Mexico to enter duty free under USMCA.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories from July 13-17 in case they were missed.

Michael Nemelka, the nominee for deputy U.S. trade representative, said that the first case under USMCA could begin in the fall, if consultations with Canada or Mexico fail. Nemelka, who currently works as a special adviser to the USTR, said that they are reviewing complaints this month. After that, staff will consult with the congressional committees of jurisdiction about which complaints would make the best cases. Then a consultation process would begin.

House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, one of the four players directing the shape of a USMCA technical corrections bill, said that the “language was a little different than the intent” when it came to the treatment of foreign-trade zones in USMCA's implementing bill. Brady and the leaders of the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees see getting a technical corrections bill passed as “a high priority,” he said in a recent interview.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 400 executives found that only two-thirds are familiar with USMCA, but of those who are, 88% said their firms have taken action to comply with the changes from NAFTA. For firms that said they were taking action in February, 54% were evaluating their supply chains; 38% hiring new workers and 26% moving manufacturing. It's not clear how the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic may have affected these plans.

Some new provisions within the USMCA seem to make claims of U.S. goods returned under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9801 for U.S. origin goods much less important than was the case under NAFTA. Kevin Riddell, director-trade and regulatory compliance at Tremco Group in Canada, highlighted the changes, which allow for USMCA claims on U.S. origin goods, in a recent LinkedIn post. While Riddell said he hadn't tried to enter U.S. goods under the new USMCA provisions, a CBP spokesperson confirmed that “a USMCA claim may be made on goods of U.S. origin, provided it satisfies its applicable rule of origin and all other requirements of the Agreement have been met.”

The International Trade Commission is asking for an additional $2.75 million over its current funding level of $99.4 million because of the demands of high levels of antidumping and Section 337 investigations, and the requirement to do an investigation on “whether the U.S. long-haul trucking industry is materially harmed by an increase in cross-border trucking services provided by Mexican suppliers.” That investigation is part of USMCA implementation.