The U.S. Chamber of Commerce laid out its priorities for trade in 2020, and most of them were well-known in 2019: getting USMCA passed; ending steel and aluminum tariffs; negotiating comprehensive trade agreements with Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom. But lesser-known priorities are: ensuring that new regulations on foreign ownership of American firms are focused on national security issues, and arguing for a balanced approach in the regulations from the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 that protect “national security without unduly hindering legitimate commerce.” The Chamber also said Jan. 9 that it wants Congress to approve “permanent normal trade relations with Kazakhstan and its graduation from the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974.”
A merger between the Global Automakers and The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers will result in a new trade association called The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the groups said in a news release. John Bozzella, the former CEO of Global Automakers, will lead the organization, it said.
Seko Logistics bought Air-City, a New York-based freight forwarder and cross-border e-commerce company, Seko said in a news release. The terms of the deal were not released but Seko said it was its largest acquisition ever. “Air-City will give us immediate depth in the growing westbound airfreight and cross-border ecommerce trade for goods going to China,” Seko CEO James Gagne said. “Air-City also gives us strategic airfreight volumes and expertise into China as the rising demand for US goods increases along with a rising middle class in China. We have also added strength to our U.S. import services with the all-important ‘Section 321’ and Type 86 entries for e-commerce capabilities that are so critical for cross-border ecommerce into the United States as well as a network of bonded warehouses in the United States.”
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.
Food and Drug Administration compliance services company Registrar Corp. acquired Register-FDA, Registrar said in a Dec. 23 news release. “Register-FDA has over 20 years of combined experience providing FDA compliance services, including registration and U.S. Agent services for food, medical device and drug establishments, as well as Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and labeling assistance,” it said.
There continues to be “a lot of moving parts” to the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a fiscal Q1 call on Dec. 12. With the “current news” that the U.S. and China are close to a “Phase One” trade deal, “we will have to wait and see,” he said. U.S. and Chinese negotiators confirmed agreement Dec. 13 on the Phase One deal (see 1912130035) that includes rolling back the List 4A tariffs by half to 7.5 percent and suspending the List 4B duties that were to take effect Dec. 15. The Trump administration said it’s keeping the 25 percent tariffs in place on the first three tranches of goods.
Fossil Group filed for an exemption to the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs it has paid since Sept. 1 on the traditional watches it imports from China under tariff subheading 9102.11.2520, said a Dec. 6 posting in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. “Fossil continues to look for ways to diversify its sourcing for traditional watches,” the vendor said. It recently invested in a factory in India that has “capacity to address our product needs” for the local market, but can’t “address our product needs in the global markets,” it said. “Watch manufacturing is a highly specialized skill which cannot be readily duplicated.” Moving traditional watch manufacturing out of China “is not feasible at this time, especially in the very challenging market for traditional watches that Fossil has been experiencing over the last couple of years,” it said. The exemption request doesn’t list Fossil smartwatch imports, which also have List 4A exposure. Fossil also requested exemptions on four classifications of watch straps imported under subheadings 9102.11.10.30, 9102.11.25.30, 9102.11.30.30 and 9102.11.45.30, plus three on the watch cases it imports under subheadings 9102.11.10.20, 9102.11.30.20 and 9102.11.45.20.
TV imports to the U.S. became a much more Mexico-centric business in October, the second full month of 15 percent Section 301 List 4A tariff exposure for finished sets from China, according to recently released Census Bureau statistics accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. More than two-thirds of October’s TV unit imports to the U.S. came from Mexico, while China’s share plummeted to half its October 2018 level, DataWeb said.
September imports of smartphones and computer monitors from China spiked significantly from August, according to Census Bureau statistics accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. The surge was likely evidence of importers’ rush to beat the 15 percent List 4B Section 301 tariffs scheduled to take effect Dec. 15 on those products.
Jasco Products didn’t conceal its anger in seeking exclusions from the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs it pays on the plastic AC outlet safety covers and seven other classifications of tech accessories it imports from China. Jasco is “being forced by its own federal government to undergo a worldwide scouting expedition” for alternative sourcing, “and is actively evaluating several dozen suppliers outside of China,” the supplier said in each of its eight exclusion requests posted Dec. 2 in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. Finding alternative sourcing “will take years and tens of millions of dollars along with extensive business disruption due to the time and resource commitment involved,” Jasco said. “It takes time to identify potential suppliers and perform audits to ensure that the factories meet Jasco’s rigorous standards for quality, safety, labor conditions, and environmental protections.”