International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Feb. 22-26 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
The issuance of CBP withhold release orders is not always seen as helpful in other parts of the federal government, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released on March 1. The full report includes some criticism from within the government as being too heavy-handed at times. “For example, although State [Department] officials considered WROs to be helpful in raising awareness of forced labor issues, State officials also said that the issuance of WROs can be a 'sledgehammer-type' approach that may make it more difficult for other agencies, such as State and [the Department of Labor], to implement more collaborative or remediation-focused approaches to eliminate and prevent forced labor,” it said.
Mesh Wi-Fi network extenders perform a different function than routers or switches and should be classified in a separate subheading, CBP said in a recently released ruling dated Dec. 18, 2020. The ruling is the result of an application for further review of protest submitted by Calix over an entry of mesh network extenders, which was liquidated in subheading 8517.62.0020. The classification issue is “whether or not the protested merchandise is 'switching and routing apparatus' of subheading 8517.62.0020, [Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUSA)], or 'other' of subheading 8517.62.0090,” CBP said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Feb. 16-19 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The processing operations in China on frozen roasted eel from the U.S. or Europe are close enough to filleting to result in a substantial transformation, CBP said in a Dec. 16 ruling. Law firm Grunfeld Desiderio asked CBP on behalf of American Eel Depot for a further review of protest after multiple entries of the eels were entered as products of China and subject to Section 301 duties. The company argued that the eels should instead be of U.S. or European origin.
The country of origin for pipe clamps and bar clamps depends on where the clamp heads that hold things in place are made, CBP said in a Sept. 11, 2020, ruling. The recently released ruling was requested by a lawyer at Sonnenberg & Cunningham on behalf of Great Star Industrial USA. The pipe clamps are imported without a pipe, which is supplied by the user, while the bar clamps are imported already mounted on a steel bar.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Feb. 8-12 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP posted answers to set of frequently asked questions Feb. 12 about the withhold release order aimed at goods produced using forced labor in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The Jan. 13 WRO applies to cotton and tomato products produced in China’s Xinjiang province (see 2101130053). The FAQs add some more details for how CBP will be administering the regional WRO, which elicited some logistical questions, given the breadth of order and the number of goods it covers.
CBP's planned addition of partner government agency data functionality for foreign-trade zones (see 1702150037) has moved to the “back burner,” due to automation funding questions, said Jim Swanson, director of the Cargo and Security Controls Division, for Cargo and Conveyance Security, CBP Office of Field Operations. CBP has “reduced funds for programming this year and as a result we are working with retained funds and other funding, but we have our ongoing maintenance needs to continue to work, plus continuing changes that have to be programmed, and that comes out of the base budget for automation,” he said. “So we are not looking at taking on a lot of new causes this year unless they come with a funding package associated with it.” Swanson spoke Feb. 10 during a National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones virtual conference.
CBP is expected to officially allow for the use of foreign-trade zones for goods stopped under a withhold release order while an importer works to prove forced labor was not involved in making the imported product, said Christopher Smith, a trade adviser in the Customs Coordination Center for North America for IKEA Purchasing Services. Smith, also a National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones board member, spoke Feb. 9 during a NAFTZ virtual conference. “We believe we are very close to getting a letter in hand allowing for the use of zones to store product while a company will be able to argue whether or not there is forced labor associated with that product associated with a WRO detention,” he said.