Retail imports at the top U.S. container ports are expected to rise “dramatically” in 2021's first half, “as increased vaccination and continued in-store safety measures enable additional shopping options,” the National Retail Federation reported March 8. “The supply chain slowdown we usually see after the holiday season never really happened this winter,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. NRF estimates that U.S. ports handled 2.06 million 20-foot-long containers or their equivalents in January, down 2.3% from December as the holiday season ended but up 13% from January 2020. NRF is forecasting ports will handle 11.7 million containers in the first half, a 23.3% increase over the same period in 2020.

The Center for Data Innovation is calling for a public-private partnership with CBP to share data among brands, online marketplaces and enforcement agencies to fight the importation of counterfeits. “If it succeeds in cutting counterfeit imports by 50 percent, the Center estimates the initiative would add 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs while reducing the trade deficit,” the group said, as it announced a March 3 report fleshing out its ideas.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Patrick Kilbride said existing intellectual property rights “formed the legal and economic basis for an unprecedented level of highly successful collaborations between government, industry, academia” and non-governmental organizations, He said the Chamber supports the COVAX global initiative and removing regulatory barriers to boost distribution of COVID-19 vaccines but not a waiver of IP rights. Proposals to waive IP rights “are misguided and a distraction from the real work of reinforcing supply chains and assisting countries to procure, distribute and administer vaccines to billions of the world’s citizens. Diminishing intellectual property rights would make it more difficult to quickly develop and distribute vaccines or treatments in the future pandemics the world will face,” Kilbride said in a statement issued March 2.

Descartes Systems acquired QuestaWeb, Descartes said in a March 1 news release. Descartes said paid about $36 million with cash on hand for the company, a trade management software company and ACE developer. “In today’s complex and dynamic regulatory environment, technology is crucial to ensure that supply chains are compliant and efficient at each step along the way,” said Ken Wood, executive vice president-product management at Descartes. “The addition of QuestaWeb’s FTZ solution brings an important capability to our Global Logistics Network and will help our customers manage the entire foreign-trade zone process, allowing them to minimize duties, fees and taxes while remaining compliant with CBP regulations.” Descartes has made several acquisitions in recent years (see 1901280021 and 1612280024).

The American Apparel and Footwear Association told President Joe Biden that the Section 301 exclusion that covers cloth masks will be expired on April 1, and that it needs to be extended past then, since the COVID-19 pandemic will not be over. They said in a news release that without that exclusion, the tariff rate on personal protective equipment will double.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has warmly endorsed Katherine Tai to be U.S. trade representative. In a letter sent Feb. 23, Executive Vice President Myron Brilliant said her experience at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and as chief trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, is invaluable. “She combines policy acumen, negotiating experience, and political savvy,” he wrote. “While one important aspect of USTR’s mission is to address unfair trading practices, the previous Administration’s dramatic expansion in the application of tariffs contributed directly to a manufacturing and agriculture recession well in advance of the [COVID-19] pandemic, and this experience illustrates the perils of an excessive reliance on tariffs. The next USTR must avoid the use of tariffs as a blunt instrument, and must avoid inaction on trade agreements as well,” he said, adding that Tai understands that.

U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told Yahoo Finance reporters that if the Section 232 tariffs were removed, his industry could suffer. The tariffs “were necessary,” he said. “The steel that would come from China -- the illegal steel that would come from China -- would find its way into Europe and then into the U.S.,” he said Feb. 19. If the tariffs were lifted, he said, steel that purportedly came from Europe could actually be from Asia. “I think it's too soon to take off the 232 [tariffs]. We need to make sure we can take care of the United States again,” he said. When the U.S. lifted Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico, those countries agreed to anti-circumvention measures.

The semiconductor, chemicals, medical devices and aviation industries could be especially hurt by decoupling, according to a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report attempting to quantify the costs of stopping or slowing sales to China, and in the case of chemicals, high tariffs on Chinese inputs used by U.S. chemical plants. Some of the actions modeled in the report have already happened, such as 25% tariffs on chemicals from China, and China's retaliatory tariffs on chemical exports. But while semiconductor exports to ZTE, Huawei and Fujian Jinhua have been restricted, there has not been a complete ban on the export of chips to China, which is what the report modeled.

The Coalition for GSP, which argues for renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, recently published an estimate that importers saved $879 million utilizing the GSP program in 2020. That covered $17 billion in imports. The group said that imports and savings were down from 2019 due to participating country terminations and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Board members and people who provide services to foreign-trade zones talked about what the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones should work on now that it lost the battle on USMCA rules of origin treatment for goods produced in those zones. “Now that provision’s back in the act, it’s going to be a real challenge,” said Melissa Irmen, chair of the NAFTZ board. The group wants to make sure a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade agreement doesn't prohibit goods made in FTZs from qualifying for rules of origin, as USMCA does. “They are concerned that the USMCA approach could be a precedent.”