The International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance have reached a tentative agreement on wages, and the union has agreed to extend the current contract until Jan. 15, to have time to negotiate other issues.

The union and the ports made a joint announcement; it said longshoremen were immediately returning to work at the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.

The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force is adding two more companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, DHS said in a notice released Oct. 2. Two companies based in China, steelmaker Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and aspartame producer Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd., are believed to be using labor transfers or sourcing materials from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, respectively. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation. The listings, which bring the list to a total of 75 companies, take effect Oct. 3.

The Commerce Department is proposing that no Chinese or Russian software or hardware that enables cars to use GPS, connect to cell phones, or other external communication facilitators will be allowed to be imported, because the government believes that these are security risks.

Stakeholders still have 30 days to comment on the proposed rule, which, according to a call with reporters, will be finalized before President Biden leaves office.

The prohibition covers telematics control units, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules, advanced battery management, as well as components that work to allow driverless operation of a vehicle. It applies to cars, motorcycles, trucks, including class 8 commercial trucks, RVs and buses, but not agriculture equipment or mining equipment.

The bans don't take effect immediately -- the one for software would begin in model year 2027, and the ban on hardware would begin in model year 2030, or Jan. 1, 2029, for vehicles that don't have model years.

The government is proposing that cars from manufacturers with majority ownership by Chinese nationals, such as Volvo and Polestar, wouldn't be allowed to be sold in the U.S., even if those cars were manufactured in the U.S., if they include these advanced features. It also proposes that a minority ownership could be enough to fall under the rule, if the governance of the company allowed that minority ownership to have veto power over certain decisions. Even a Chinese citizen who used to run a state-owned enterprise investing in, and serving on the board of a company could be enough to put a U.S company into this category.

"The Department of Commerce is also proposing procedures to let certain parties, such as small producers of vehicles, receive exemptions from the prohibitions on an exceptional basis, in order to minimize unanticipated and unnecessary disruption to industry," a White House fact sheet said. The notice of proposed rulemaking also says that the Bureau of Industry and Security may grant manufacturers a pass if the risks "have been, or can be, mitigated."

Imports from China of electric vehicles, EV batteries, solar cells and wafers, face masks, needles and syringes, critical minerals and steel and aluminum will all be hiked Sept. 27, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Sept. 13, as part of a longer-term modification of Section 301 duties.

The USTR made some changes from the original proposal, including doubling the tariff on syringes from 50% to 100%; making an exclusion for enteral syringes; and providing an exemption for a new tariff on ship-to-shore cranes for cranes ordered before May 14. The action also temporarily drops Section 301 tariffs on some industrial machinery and adds various tariff lines outside solar manufacturing.

The previous announcement had immediately dropped tariffs on 19 types of solar panel manufacturing equipment; the modification has restored tariffs on five of the 19, for machines that help make modules, rather than wafers or cells.

For non-solar industrial equipment exclusions, each importer will have to apply for an exclusion, and those opposing the exclusion will have an opportunity to express their views.

The Biden administration will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to forbid all goods subject to major trade actions, including Section 301 tariffs, from de minimis entry, the White House announced. It will also issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to require information submissions for de minimis packages, including the 10-digit HTS code and the person receiving the goods.

In addition, the Consumer Product Safety Commission plans "to propose a final rule requiring importers of consumer products to file Certificates of Compliance (CoC) electronically with CBP and CPSC at the time of entry, including for de minimis shipments," the White House said.

The administration also asked Congress to pass a bill restricting de minimis before the end of the year. It asked that the bill carve out all apparel from eligibility, and said that the bill should also address Section 301 goods, as "legislative action by Congress to make this statutory change would help to achieve this important reform more quickly." The announcement said 301 tariffs cover about 40% of all imports, and 70% of textile and apparel imports from China.

Five Chinese companies have been added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, according to a notice released Aug. 8. The entities are: Kashgar Construction Engineering, Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper (also known as Ashele Copper), Xinjiang Tengxiang Magnesium Products; Century Sunshine Group Holdings; and Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation. The listings take effect Aug. 9.

Upcoming changes to Section 301 tariffs won’t begin to take effect Aug. 1, as was proposed by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in May. After receiving over 1,100 comments on its notice of proposed changes, the USTR now says it expects its final determination will be issued in August but with the actual tariff changes taking effect about two weeks after USTR “makes the final determination public.”

DHS will add three more entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, it said in a notice released June 11. Dongguan Oasis Shoes Co., Ltd. (also known as Dongguan Oasis Shoe Industry Co. Ltd.; Dongguan Luzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.; and Dongguan Lvzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.); Shandong Meijia Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Rizhao Meijia Group); and Xinjiang Shenhuo Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd. are being added for “working with the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” The new listings will take effect June 12.

Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation.

Seko, a customs brokerage based in Illinois that can no longer file Type 86 entries after CBP suspended it from the program last week, is asking the Court of International Trade to force CBP to reinstate it through an injunction.

Seko, which is the only company that has been reported in the U.S. press to be among "multiple" filers who were suspended for non-compliance, said that CBP requested documentation in July 2023 for 10 Type 86 entries, and told the company it found "significant non-compliant" filings in that sample. But CBP didn't give specifics, nor did it respond to Seko's proposed remedial action plan.

On Jan. 22, CBP asked for documentation for another 10 Type 86 entries, and Seko never heard more about that sample. But on May 17, CBP told Seko it was suspended from the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program for Type 86 non-compliance, and on May 20, CBP notified Seko it was suspended from the Type 86 pilot, effective May 27.

Seko said it has lost business to others that handle Type 86 filings, and that CBP violated the Administrative Procedures Act’s requirements that Seko be granted notice and opportunity to respond to alleged violations, as well as be provided sufficient information regarding its alleged transgressions.

Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said CBP "has suspended multiple customs brokers from participating in the Entry Type 86 Test after determining that their entries posed an unacceptable compliance risk."

The news release, issued May 31, didn't specify when those suspensions began, or how long they will last. It said, "Any broker that has been suspended will be considered for reinstatement if it demonstrates to CBP that it has developed and implemented a remedial action plan." It also didn't say how many of the more than 450 firms that participate in the Type 86 pilot were suspended.

All Type 86 entries are supposed to be valued at less than $800 per customer, per day. The Type 86 entry process allows goods that need oversight from partner government agencies to receive electronic clearance; the Section 321 data pilot doesn't allow PGA goods.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative decided that 164 exclusions from Section 301 China tariffs -- including for fabrics, bras, electric motors, sterile drapes, hunting stands, bicycle trailers, auto rearview mirrors and more -- will continue to avoid the tariffs through May 31, 2025, while 265 exclusions will expire June 14.

The USTR published the lists late in the day ahead of a three-day weekend. Although it is structured as a Federal Register notice, it has not been posted for public inspection.

For the exclusions that will continue for a year, the USTR said that "extending these exclusions will support efforts to shift sourcing out of China, or provide additional time where, despite efforts to source products from alternative sources, availability of the product outside of China remains limited."

Solar manufacturing equipment imported from China will automatically be exempt from 301 tariffs, but a notice published by the Office of U.S. Trade Representative is unclear on when those tariffs will be lifted. A spokesperson said they will be effective on the day the notice is published in the Federal Register.

Exclusions for manufacturing equipment, both solar and in other sectors, will be effective through May 31, 2025. The notice was silent on what would happen to existing exclusions scheduled to expire in nine days.

Companies must apply for an exclusion for manufacturing equipment outside the solar sector, included in more than 100 8-digit tariff lines in headings 8417-8420, 8422, 8429, 8430, 8432-8439, 8441, 8442, 8444-8449, 8451-8465, 8468, 8475, 8477-8479, 8486, 8514, 8515 and 8543 -- and the USTR hasn't yet published how to do that.

The agency also released the 382 HTS subheadings and five statistical reporting numbers that are planned to have increased tariffs under the Section 301 modifications. Those will go up in approximately 90 days, a spokesperson previously said. Comments on those tariff hikes, which include a few additions to the Section 301 target list, may be submitted beginning May 29, and the comment period will be open until June 28.

A Senate Finance Committee investigation into forced labor in imported autos' supply chains said that BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, after being notified by Lear Corporation that LAN transformers were made by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, continued to export cars with those parts, or the parts themselves, into the U.S.

The same part was also sold to Volkswagen, and that company notified CBP that it had a part barred under UFLPA in cars on the water, and the agency allowed the company to segregate the cars at port until the parts could be replaced.

The May 20 report said BMW and Jaguar Land Rover were told in writing in January that JWD, the company on the UFLPA Entity List, was in their supply chains. Not only did they continue to import the parts in their cars, the report said, but, Jaguar Land Rover said it wasn't aware of a link to JWD when asked in April, and BMW said JWD wasn't on its supplier list.

The committee gave the report to the New York Times before it publicly released it; BMW told the Times in a statement that it had taken steps to stop importing the part, and that it would replace the part in cars in the U.S. Jaguar Land Rover didn't respond to the NYT.

DHS is adding 26 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List because they allegedly source cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, it said in a notice released May 16. The companies, which are cotton traders and warehouse facilities, will be added to the list effective upon the notice's scheduled May 17 publication in the Federal Register. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation.

The administration will hike tariffs this year on steel and aluminum, solar cells (including in modules), ship to shore cranes, electric vehicles, lithium-ion EV batteries, battery parts, some critical minerals, certain respirators and face masks, syringes and needles, and will hike tariffs on other Chinese imports next year and in 2026. A White House fact sheet on the tariffs doesn't include more specific dates.

The increased tariffs will cover about $18 billion worth of imports. The overall Section 301 action covers roughly $350 billion worth of goods.

The long-awaited Section 301 report said that China is still stealing U.S. intellectual property and using non-market methods to try to dominate certain sectors, and higher tariffs are needed to protect U.S. investments in strategic sectors.

The administration will open an exclusion process for machinery used in domestic manufacturing, and has already proposed lifting tariffs on 19 tariff lines covering solar manufacturing equipment. In the report's appendixes, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative lists more than 100 types of industrial machinery it believes deserve exclusions.

The Court of International Trade on April 10 said that neither the U.S. nor importer Blue Sky the Color of Imagination properly classified entries of four types of notebooks with calendars, ultimately finding that the products fit under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.20.10 as "diaries." Judge Jane Restani said that the Harmonized System should be interpreted to provide "conformity" between the French and English versions of the HS. As a result, the judge looked to the French and English definitions of the term "diary," which both describe as a notebook to write what one proposes or remembers what to do.

Customs brokers have been pushing for a change to U.S. bankruptcy law for decades to make it so pass-through payments to CBP for tariffs are not subject to clawback after a client goes bankrupt. With a package of funding bills the Senate passed March 8, brokers got a permanent change to the law.

The clawback provisions are there so that company insiders don't strip a company of assets through bonuses or other special financial treatment to preferred vendors in the last three months before a filing, but National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America members had pointed out that this money does not stay with their firms, and so, like tax payments, should not be recouped to distribute to creditors. During the pandemic, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America got the carve-out for just one year.

"For 20 years, NCBFAA has sought subrogation rights for customs brokers in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,” said NCBFAA President J.D. Gonzalez in a news release following the vote in the Senate, calling the bill's passage an "important victory for our customs broker industry."

The Customs Broker Fairness Act is "vital to the protection of our nation’s customs brokers and their tens of thousands of employees," the news release said, protecting "customs brokers who have paid duties to CBP on behalf of importers that subsequently file for bankruptcy." The bill also secures subrogation rights for customs brokers who have received money or paid duties to the U.S. government on behalf of a bankrupt importer, the NCBFAA said. "If a customs broker could be subrogated to the priority rights of CBP, any payments from the importer to CBP via the customs broker during the 90-day period would likewise no longer be subject to a preference payment recovery action."

The Court of International Trade on Feb. 27 ruled that Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp. wasn't required to exhaust its administrative remedies by appealing to the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force before challenging its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List "under the particular facts of this case." But Judge Gary Katzmann denied the exporter's motion for a preliminary injunction against its placement on the Entity List, finding that the company was unlikely to succeed on three of its four claims against its listing.

The judge said he would later decide on Ninestar's motion to unredact and unseal the record.

The Federal Maritime Commission issued its final rule for new demurrage and detention billing requirements, describing the information carriers and marine terminal operators must include in their invoices, clarifying which parties can be billed and under what time frames, outlining the processes for disputing charges, and more.

The rule, released Feb. 23 and effective May 28, says that invoices can be issued to only the consignee or “the person for whose account the billing party provided ocean transportation or storage” of the cargo and who contracted with the billing party for cargo transportation or storage. The rule will also require ocean carriers and MTOs to issue detention and demurrage invoices within 30 calendar days from when the charges were last incurred, while non-vessel-operating carriers need to issue those invoices within 30 days from the “issuance date” of the invoice they received. Billed parties will have 30 days to request a refund or waiver, and the billing party must try to resolve the issue within 30 days.

The FMC said it hopes the rule leads to “supply chain fluidity” by clarifying the responsibilities and requirements of each party when picking up or returning cargo and equipment. “Failing to include any of the required information in a detention or demurrage invoice eliminates any obligation of the billed party to pay the applicable charge,” the commission said. “The new rule will provide relief to parties who should never have received a bill for detention or demurrage.”

CBP will require type 86 entries to be filed “upon or prior to arrival” of the shipment beginning Feb. 15, it said in a notice modifying its Entry Type 86 test. The change from the current requirement, which is within 15 days of arrival of the cargo, is intended to address “enforcement challenges surrounding low-value shipments entered” via type 86, CBP said. The notice also “clarifies the consequences of misconduct” by participants in the pilot, including potential ineligibility for type 86 entry filing, the agency said.