The Court of International Trade issued a decision late on Jan. 24 finding recent CBP regulations limiting the amount of drawback that can be claimed on excise taxes were "unlawful." The court held that a final rule issued by CBP in December 2018 that aimed to prevent so-called “double drawback” contradicts the legal framework created by Congress for drawback.

The government will impose an additional 25 percent tariffs on some steel articles and 10 percent on some aluminum products starting Feb. 8, President Donald Trump said in a proclamation released late on Jan. 24. The new tariffs are because there has been an import surge in some products made from steel and aluminum, and because domestic capacity has not risen as much as expected from the 232 tariff action, it said.

The Senate passed the U.S-Canada-Mexico Agreement, the replacement for NAFTA, with an 89-10 vote. Now the implementing bill heads to President Donald Trump's desk to be signed. The Canadian parliament must also still ratify the agreement.

The 15 percent tariffs on goods from China included on list 4A will be reduced to 7.5 percent thirty days from today, a Trump administration official said during a Jan. 15 conference call with reporters. President Donald Trump previously announced the decrease, but it was not mentioned in materials released as part of the Phase One deal signed with China. A Federal Register notice on the reduction will be posted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative soon, the official said.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Jan. 14 that the Senate will hold a ratification vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement this week.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the third list of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions "are reflected in 2 ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 66 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 81 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 385-41. The implementing legislation will be taken up by the Senate in the new year. If the impeachment trial begins in early January, it is expected to wait until that trial is over.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the third list of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions "are reflected in 9 ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 35 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 75 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice.

The Section 301 tariffs on goods from China that were set to take effect on Dec. 15 will not go forward because a phase one deal between the U.S. and China was reached, President Donald Trump said in a Dec. 13 tweet. "The Penalty Tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal announced that they have reached a deal with the Trump administration on changes to the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. They called the changes they won over the last six months a victory for workers. They did not share many details of how the environmental, labor, enforcement and biologics provisions changed, but said the text would be shared before votes in the House of Representatives.