The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is extending 77 COVID-19 related tariff exclusions as well as the 352 Section 301 exclusions that were restored in March 2022. Both sets of exclusions were set to expire Dec. 31; now they will last through May 31.

A bipartisan Customs Modernization bill would allow CBP to use advance data to enforce customs laws, permit summary forfeiture of certain goods that infringe on intellectual property rights, and allow for streamlined disposition of detained de minimis packages, when CBP did not receive a response from the shipper.

The bill would augment CBP's authority so that it could require submission of additional information to determine eligibility for de minimis and would allow the agency to require information from parties other than importers or customs brokers but still require that importers of record or customs brokers submit the data.

The measure would also give CBP the authority to regulate bonding levels, expand recordkeeping demands and create public disclosure of air cargo, rail and truck manifests.

Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced the bill Dec. 8.

It has little in the way of trade facilitation, though it would allow for electronic transmission of requests for accelerated disposition of protests, and it would modify requirements for filing at the Court of International Trade.

DHS will add three more entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, it said in a notice released Dec. 8. Anhui Xinya New Materials Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Chaohu Youngor Color Spinning Technology Co., Ltd. and Chaohu Xinya Color Spinning Technology Co., Ltd.); COFCO Sugar Holdings Co., Ltd.; and Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Sichuan Mianyang Jingweida Technology Co., Ltd. and JWD Technology; and formerly known as Mianyang High-tech Zone Jingweida Technology 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 Dec. 11.

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 Court of International Trade in a Nov. 30 opinion said that it is likely to have jurisdiction over Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp.'s challenge to its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Following Ninestar's motion for a preliminary injunction against its placement on the list, Judge Gary Katzmann ruled more narrowly, holding Ninestar is likely to show that jurisdiction is proper under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, which covers any civil action regarding "embargoes or other quantitative restrictions." While the U.S. said the UFLPA Entity List does not create an embargo since it establishes a rebuttable presumption, Katzmann said the court has exerted jurisdiction over similar embargoes where exemptions or reconsideration are granted.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 13 said then-President Donald Trump legally revoked a Section 201 safeguard tariff exclusion on bifacial solar panels, in a decision that gives the president wide discretion in taking tariff action. Reversing the Court of International Trade's decision, Judges Alan Lourie, Richard Taranto and Leonard Stark said the president did not clearly misconstrue the statute to find that he could make a trade-restricting modification to past Section 201 tariff action.

Importers, led by the Solar Energy Industries Association, had claimed that the statute's language, which says that previous safeguards can be "reduced, modified, or terminated," only allowed for trade-liberalizing measures. The court also rejected the importers' claims that the president violated various procedural requirements in revoking the tariff exclusion.

DHS will add three more entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, it said in a notice released Sept. 26. Xinjiang Tianmian Foundation Textile Co., Ltd.; Xinjiang Tianshan Wool Textile Co. Ltd.; Xinjiang Zhongtai Group 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 Sept. 27.

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 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is extending by three months 77 COVID-19 related tariff exclusions as well as the 352 Section 301 exclusions that were restored in March 2022. Both sets of exclusions, which were to expire at the end of September, will last through Dec. 31.

The Commerce Department on Aug. 18 announced its final determination that imports of solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from China. The agency made minor changes from its preliminary determination, finding Cambodia’s New East Solar circumvented duties and excluding it from the certification process for duty exemptions, as well as excluding Vietnam’s Vina from the certification process but making VSUN eligible.

Duty collection is on hold until June under a grace period announced by the Biden administration last year, and even companies otherwise excluded from the certification process may file certifications to qualify for the grace period.

DHS will add three entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, the agency said Aug. 1. The additions, effective Aug. 2, will add Chinese battery manufacturer Camel Group Co. for working with the Xinjiang government to “recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs” and other persecuted groups. Chinese spice manufacturer ChenGuang Biotech Group Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary, Chenguang Biotechnology Group Yanqi Co. Ltd., will be added for sourcing material from Xinjiang or from entities in the region that are involved in a “government labor scheme that uses forced labor,” DHS said.

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.

CBP released on June 22 its final rule on continuing education for licensed customs brokers. The notice details requirements for individual brokers to meet the continuing education requirements, as well as the accreditation process for courses. As expected, the agency will require brokers to complete 36 hours of continuing education each triennial reporting cycle, beginning with the cycle ending in 2027.

Changes from the proposed rule include the addition of a fifth category of allowed continuing education activities to allow for self-guided trainings and educational activities that end in a retention test, as well as the recognition of half-credits.

CBP said it will publish a separate Federal Register notice in the future announcing the date on which continuing education courses are available. The agency will reduce the number of hours required during the first triennial reporting period by six months for every six-month period that passes between the beginning of the triennial reporting period Feb. 1 and the compliance date to be announced in the Federal Register.

DHS will add two companies, as well as eight subsidiaries of one of those companies, to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, according to a pre-publication notice released June 9.

Ninestar Corporation and its eight Zhuhai-based subsidiaries and Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical Co. Ltd. are being added for working with the government of Xinjiang to “recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs” and other persecuted groups.

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 will take effect upon publication of the notice, currently scheduled for June 12.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced it is extending through Sept. 30 exclusions for 77 of 81 COVID-19-related products previously granted Section 301 exclusions. The other four will expire at the end of May. All the exclusions had been scheduled to end May 15.

CBP is delaying by one month its upcoming requirement to submit data on country of smelt and cast on entry summaries for imports of aluminum and aluminum derivative products, it said in a CSMS message March 30. Previously scheduled to take effect April 10 in line with an executive order setting new tariffs on Russian aluminum, the new ACE requirements will now take effect May 10. The tariffs themselves will still take effect April 10, CBP said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is suspending all trade in species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species with a permit issued by Mexico, it said in a notice dated March 27. The suspension implements a directive from CITES issued in response to Mexico’s failure to protect the vaquita porpoise that will remain in effect until Mexico submits a CITES-approved compliance plan. “Effective immediately, all shipments containing CITES specimens traded for commercial purposes under an import permit, export permit, or re-export certificate issued by Mexico for the species, are subject to enforcement action,” the FWS said.

The Court of International Trade upheld the U.S. Trade Representative's Lists 3 and 4A tariff action under Section 301 on China in a widely-anticipated decision on March 17. After the tariffs were previously sent back over concerns of compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act, the USTR offered further explanations of its tariff decisions. Judges Mark Barnet, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves held that these explanations were not made impermissibly post hoc and cleared APA requirements.

On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House said that, beginning March 10, there will be a 200% tariff on Russian aluminum exports, including derivative products, and, beginning on April 10, aluminum articles from other countries that used any aluminum from Russia will also be tariffed at 200%, unless those third countries also impose 200% tariffs on imported Russian aluminum.

The U.S. will also increase the tariffs on more than 570 groups of Russian products previously subject to a 35% tariff to 70% -- and will increase non-most-favored-nation tariffs to 35% on some minerals and chemicals from Russia.

The White House said it will be increasing tariffs on "more than 100 Russian metals, minerals, and chemical products worth approximately $2.8 billion to Russia."

CBP is extending until April 14 its deadline for customs brokers to submit lists of all current employees in the ACE portal, the agency said in a CSMS message. The deadline was previously Feb. 17. The extension will “give brokers additional time to comply with the requirements and allow for implementation of technical fixes in ACE,” CBP said. Brokers are required to report all current employees, including those not engaged in customs business, to CBP under the recent customs modernization final rule.

A panel ruled for Mexico and Canada on how the USMCA auto rules of origin should be interpreted, saying the U.S. is in breach of its agreement by conditioning a longer period to comply for auto exporters, known as an alternative staging regime, on requirements that are not in the USMCA text or the uniform regulations.

At issue is how originating core parts are counted toward a vehicle's overall regional value content. The U.S. had argued that only North American content in those core parts counted -- in other words, for an engine or a transmission that was 75% or 80% Mexican, only that portion of the value would count toward the vehicle as a whole. The panel said there was no evidence that Canada and Mexico agreed to that interpretation, and said the evidence it reviewed suggested that the U.S. expected roll-up to be an option for producers, just as it had been under NAFTA.

The decision will make it easier for imported vehicles to qualify for tariff benefits, the panel report says.

Mexico, which brought the dispute, said in the coming days it will initiate dialogue with the U.S. and Canada to address the report's conclusions. It also noted that the panel agreed producers have a number of methodologies they can use to determine if core parts are originating.

"Canada welcomes the findings of the panel’s report, which reaffirm our understanding of the negotiated outcome on the rules of origin for automotive products," Canada's trade minister said.

The U.S. trade representative did not issue a statement about the panel in the first hour after its publication.

The results of the report leaked before its official release late in the day Jan. 11 -- it had been completed since Dec. 14.