Correction: The new Section 301 tariff exclusion for motorboats will fall under previously created subheading 9903.88.48 (see 2006190034).
The American Apparel and Footwear Association is asking Congress to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act this year, five years ahead of its expiration. “Companies are poised to diversify out of China, and Africa is a logical place for many of them. The on-again, off-again nature of the program before the ten-year renewal was extremely disruptive and meant the industry was not able to take full advantage of the first 15 years of the program,” AAFA's letter said. The trade organization is also asking that the quota limit for third country fabric be increased from 3.5% to at least 4%, with a growth provision.
The second round of comment collections on retaliatory tariffs in the Airbus agreement should be free-form, as the first set was, the National Association of Beverage Importers said in June 9 comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The trade group said the fact that almost 26,000 comments were submitted in the last round shows strong public interest, and the pull-down menus in the online form that the USTR has offered is confusing. “The form portal approach does not minimize the burden on the public; rather, it reduces the review burden on USTR. The latter is not the goal of the Paperwork Reduction Act,” NABI President Robert Tobiassen said. The association “respectfully requests that the existing process is maintained as it is, and that this emergency information collection request be approved only as a non-mandatory option for those who are willing and able to provide the information in the format USTR is seeking to receive,” it said. The USTR requested comments about the coming portal changes last month (see 2005260026).
An interim final rule explaining how the Department of Labor will certify how much of a vehicle's production came from workers making at least $16 an hour has been sent to the Office and Management and Budget for review, the final step before issuance. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB received the rule on June 1.
Reports that China would be slowing or stopping its purchases of soybeans because of U.S. action over Hong Kong (see 2006010044) are inaccurate, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said. Lighthizer, who was speaking to the Economic Club of New York, Washington and Chicago by video on June 4, said China made $185 million worth of U.S. soybean purchases since that story was published. He said that coverage of the trade agreement frequently focuses on the purchase promises and neglects the structural reforms that were pledged, but that both tracks have been going well in the three months since the deal went into effect. “You’ll know what the score is before too long,” he said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on whether the set of tariff exclusions on Chinese imports on Section 301 List 1 that are set to expire Sept. 20 (see 1909180013) should extend by up to another year, it said in a notice. The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on June 8. The comments are due by July 7, it said. Each exclusion will be evaluated independently. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on whether three sets of tariff exclusions granted to Chinese imports on Section 301 List 3 that are set to expire Aug. 7, 2020, should be extended for up to another year, it said in a notice. The agency already requested comments on 11 other sets of exclusions that expire the same day (see 2005010030). The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on June 8. The comments are due by July 7, it said. Each exclusion will be evaluated independently. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties in September 2018, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
Correction: Recently granted Section 301 tariff exclusion extensions (see 2005130003) expire at the end of 2020.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said its negotiators will seek to make things easier for express shippers in Kenya, will seek to get Kenya to agree to basing its phytosanitary rules on science, and “secure comprehensive duty-free market access for U.S. industrial goods” as it works towards a free-trade agreement with that country.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is removing two previously approved exclusions from the fourth list of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, it said in a notice. The deletions “correct technical errors in previously announced exclusions,” it said. The agency is deleting exclusions for “Tumblers or disposable graduated liners for pitchers, of plastics, of a kind used in healthcare facilities (described in statistical reporting number 3924.10.4000)” and “Manually operated pill or tablet crushers of plastics, presented with attachable pouches of plastics for capturing and storing the resulting powders (described in statistical reporting number 8479.82.0080),” it said. The action is effective for “goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption” as of Sept. 1, 2019.