The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Dec. 26:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Dec. 22:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Dec. 20:
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding two entities to the Entity List under the destination of Russia, the agency said.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Dec. 14:
The Commerce Department set the 12-month 2018 value-added tariff preference level for certain apparel imported directly from Haiti (HTS 9820.61.25 for entry specific claims or 9820.61.30 for aggregate claims) eligible to receive duty-free treatment under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership for Encouragement Act (HOPE). For the one-year period beginning on Dec. 20, 2017, and extending through Dec. 19, 2018, the recalculated quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under the value-added TPL is 361,603,399 square meters equivalent (SME), a decrease of more than 24 million SME over 2017 levels. Apparel articles entered in excess of this TPL will be subject to otherwise applicable duty rates.
The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) in a Dec. 12 letter requested a halt to the Commerce Department-led Section 232 investigations into the national security impacts of steel and aluminum imports, saying any trade actions activated pursuant to the probe would be a “misuse of policy” intended for genuine emergencies, hurt U.S. alliances and break “longstanding precedent.” “Providing the military with dependable metal is important,” the letter says. “However, the amount of steel and aluminum used for defense is a relatively small portion of the total demand, given that the defense industry consumes roughly 1 percent of all aluminum and 3 percent of steel.” NTU also called China the “scapegoat” of U.S. economic woes, adding that the nation “only” accounts for 4 percent of imported steel and 6 percent of imported aluminum. Imposing tariffs would increase costs for manufacturers who rely on lower-priced steel and aluminum imports, and in turn, raise consumer costs for such goods as automobiles, housing, soda cans and dishwashers, the NTU said. Commerce didn't comment.
The Commerce Department is accepting nominations for its Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness, Commerce said. The department is particularly encouraging nominations of representatives from the freight forwarding, logistics, trucking, airport, rail, energy, infrastructure financing and “big data analysis” sectors, Commerce said. Applications for immediate consideration will be accepted through 5 p.m. Jan. 12, and the department will accept self-nominations. Commerce is seeking members for the current term, which ends in November 2019.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently “grappling” with whether the trade community is ready for new ACE filing requirements for high-risk seafood under its Seafood Import Monitoring Program, said Dale Jones, an NMFS fishery program specialist, at CBP’s East Coast Trade Symposium on Dec. 6. The December 2016 final rule will still go into effect on Jan. 1, but NMFS does not want to hold up trade, so there may be some way the agency can “work diligently” with affected importers to help them through the transition, he said. “We might hit some turbulence.” The new data requirements will initially apply to imports of Atlantic cod, Pacific cod, blue crab, red king crab, dolphinfish (mahi mahi), grouper, red snapper, sea cucumber, sharks, swordfish, and albacore, bigeye, bluefin, skipjack and yellowfin tuna, with requirements also eventually planned for shrimp and abalone. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently called on NMFS to adopt a “soft compliance” policy, citing readiness concerns (see 1712040022).
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for Dec. 7: