CBP has not updated ACE yet with the extensions granted to six Section 301 exclusions that were set to expire on Dec. 28, the agency said in a CSMS message. “CBP expects the update to be soon after 1/2/2020 and will provide an update when programming is complete and ready to accept transmission of HTS 9903.88.05 on entries with entry dates beyond 12/28/2019,” CBP said. Twenty-five of the original set of Section 301 exclusions expired on Dec. 28 (see 1912190060).
Section 301 (too broad)
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 23-27 in case they were missed.
Stainless steel beer kegs used by Anheuser-Busch (AB) to transport beer are eligible for duty-free treatment as Instruments of International Traffic but would be subject to applicable trade remedies if the kegs enter U.S. commerce, CBP said in a June 13 ruling that the agency recently posted. Customs lawyer Michael Roll requested the ruling on behalf of AB as to the treatment of the kegs, which are of Chinese, U.S., Spanish, Mexican and German origin. AB will fill the subject kegs with beer outside the U.S. and will import them mostly through 22 U.S. ports, the company told CBP.
Although tariffs were imposed to protect American factories from China's unfair trading practices, the import protection was overshadowed by the higher input costs tariffs created, a new report from the Federal Reserve says. The report estimated that the industries most exposed to tariffs had a reduction in manufacturing employment of 1.4 percent compared with companies with low exposure to tariffs. Retaliatory tariffs also contributed to the drag on factories, the report found.
In the Dec. 11 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 53, No. 45), CBP published notices that propose to revoke or modify rulings and similar treatment for rigid plastic coolers and multiple types of chemical compounds.
The announcement of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal that included halving List 4A tariffs in place since Sept. 1 could do little to change damage done to small audio companies smacked by the previous three tranches of tariffs still in place, they said. Executives said in interviews this month have been hit hard by the duties with little hope other than to wait them out.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec.16-20 in case they were missed.
Richard O'Neill was named partner at Neville Peterson, where he was previously an associate attorney, the law firm said in an emailed news release. O'Neill's work is focused on “all aspects of international trade and Customs law, including tariff classification, appraisement, country of origin and trade preference programs, Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs, Free Trade Agreements, export controls and trade remedies,” the firm said.
A group of domestic manufacturers filed petitions on Dec. 18 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duty investigations on fluid end bocks from Germany, India and Italy, and new countervailing duties on the same product from China, Germany, India and Italy. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on fluid end blocks that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by the FEB Fair Trade Coalition, the Ellwood Group, and Finkl Steel.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will ask for comments on whether the second set of tariff exclusions on Chinese imports on Section 301 List 1, set to expire March 25, should last another year, it said in a pre-publication notice on its website. The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions in docket number USTR-2019-0024 on Jan. 15. The comments are due by Feb. 15, it said. The USTR recently granted extensions to six exclusions, while letting 25 expire, from the first group of exclusions (see 1912190060).