Importers hailed the temporary duty deferral announced April 19 (see 2004200024), even as many said applying it to Section 301 is also needed. Apparel faces some of the highest Most Favored Nation tariffs, which are the only category the duty deferral applies to. American Apparel and Footwear Association CEO Steve Lamar said: “Deferring duty payments and import fees in a time of limited liquidity is a welcome move. As revenue has receded due to closed stores and less commerce, American companies have been faced with the difficult decision to pay their tariff bill to the U.S. government or keep American workers on payroll. The deferral of these payments will provide some of the liquidity needed to keep more Americans employed and more American companies operational during this crisis,” He said, however, that Section 301 duties should be included.

The Council on Foreign Relations said that U.S., European and Japanese pushback over Made in China 2025, at least the part on high performance medical devices, may ebb after the coronavirus pandemic has passed -- because other countries will want to implement their own versions. “If any country knows a little bit about reducing industrial dependence on the rest of the world through conscious industrial choices, that would be China,” said Brad Stetser, a CFR senior fellow for international economics, during a webinar April 16. He said China is displacing imported semiconductors, but has been less successful in displacing imported aircraft.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide will temporarily reduce the salaries of its executives and payments to board members, it said in an April 17 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. From May 1 through July 31, “base salary payments will be reduced by 50% for the Company’s chief executive officer and 20% for the other executive officers,” it said. “Base cash retainer payments for the applicable period for the members of the Board will be reduced by 50%.”

Although the shortage of air cargo capacity matters, and the requirements for payment upfront are hurting too, attendees of a Flexport webinar on the challenges of importing personal protective equipment said their No. 1 concern is navigating import and export regulations. It's easy to see why: When Tom Gould, head of global customs for Flexport, described the Food and Drug Administration's ever-changing exceptions to its usual rules about importing medical masks, he said that they’ve “been updated a couple of times; if you looked at them a week or two ago, look again.”

Container volumes through the Port of Los Angeles fell 30.9% year-on-year in March, marking the lowest amount of cargo moving through the port in a month since February 2009, said the Port of Los Angeles in a recent news release. The deep decline comes as a result not only of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, said Gene Seroka, executive director of the port. “With U.S. retailers and cargo owners scaling back orders, volumes are soft even though factories in China are beginning to produce more. Amidst this public health crisis, there will be uncertain months ahead in the global supply chain,” Seroka said. Imports for the month decreased by 25.9% compared with March 2019, and exports by 23.8%. Empty containers declined by 44.5%, the release said.

The Border Trade Alliance is urging Mexico to align its guidelines on essential industries allowed to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic with similar directives from the U.S. and Canada. In an April 9 letter to Mexican Health Minister Jorge Alcocer Varela, the trade group voiced concern that “a lack of clarity and alignment over what private sector industries and services are deemed by Mexico as ‘essential’ is proving increasing[ly] problematic for firms whose manufacturing operations and supply chains are partially or wholly dependent on output from Mexico. Discrepancies between countries in the identification of essential services and industries are likely to cause increased disruptions to cross-border supply chains at a time when ensuring and preserving efficient cross-border trade and commerce is more important than ever,” it said. Mexico should adopt “guidelines aligned to the extent possible with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security guidelines for critical infrastructure industries and the newly issued federal guidelines from the Canadian federal government,” the letter said.

The World Trade Organization is forecasting a huge hit to trade around the world, but how bad it will be depends on how long the lockdowns persist, the organization said April 8. In an optimistic scenario, restrictions on movement are lifted after three months. In a pessimistic scenario, they're lifted (or partially lifted) after six months. And in the worst-case scenario, the stay-at-home orders last for a year, and even after they're over, a lot of the people who lost their jobs do not get back to work, so big-ticket purchases like cars and major appliances continue to be depressed in 2021.

U.S. importers sourced 5.81 million Chinese smartphones in February, according to Census Bureau data accessed April 5 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. It was the lowest monthly volume from China since customs began tracking smartphone imports in 2007, and vivid evidence of the COVID-19 pandemic's upending of the Chinese supply chain after the world’s first outbreak in Hubei province in January.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pointed to the Homeland Security Department's guidance on essential workforce as a model, and asked that other countries consult with companies to form their lockdown orders. While the Chamber recognized that various geographies may need different levels of lockdowns, it said, “a patchwork approach in which state, provincial, and local governments adopt divergent or unclear guidance of their own may inadvertently complicate pandemic response.” In a call with reporters April 7, Chamber officials couldn't point to any business closures abroad that led to supply chain disruptions at American manufacturers during the crisis. John Murphy, senior vice president for international affairs, said that when Mexico's Sonora state had a lockdown before the rest of the country, some companies called the Chamber with concerns. “The typical ventilator has products from a half a dozen countries, and trade barriers only make it more difficult to surge the production of those essential products,” he said.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America plans to combine its annual conference and the government affairs conference that already had been set for Sept. 13-15, in Washington, D.C., the NCBFAA said in an email. The NCBFAA annual conference was previously planned for this month in Las Vegas. The Western Cargo Conference was also rescheduled, according to its website. That event is now planned for Oct. 1-4 in Coronado, California.