An October strike by members of the International Longshoremen Association at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports could result in “devastating impacts” on the supply chain for weeks, consultants and logistics professionals told International Trade Today.
It's not clear whether removing all Chinese goods or apparel from de minimis would shrink the universe of duty-free imports the most, but the latter approach, combined with a restriction for Section 301 tariff targets, may be gaining support on the Hill.
A regional union president for CBP officers asked Congress "to close the de minimis exception" or at least lower the de minimis threshold, but also to increase funding for frontline staff.
An effort by CBP and the Transportation Security Administration to improve the monitoring of imported air cargo through modifications in data collection is creating confusion among airforwarders and reportedly causing airlines to think twice about delivering cargo to the U.S. and Canada.
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House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said members of Congress have a wide range of views "of what the reaction should be" to compliance weaknesses in de minimis shipments. "But I think we need to continue the conversation and look for solutions that can generate the results we need," he said. Smith said he thinks Congress can pass a de minimis bill this year.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 9 rejected importer Katana Racing's renewed motion to dismiss the govenrment's action against it seeking over $5.7 million in unpaid duties on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the trade court's previous dismissal of the case. In her first opinion since being confirmed to the court, Judge Lisa Wang said the U.S. didn't fail to properly identify the "person" liable for the violation, exhaust administrative remedies or bring the case on time (U.S. v. Katana Racing, CIT # 19-00125).
CBP needs to improve its oversight of penalty cases, including more consistent oversight of its Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures field offices, so that CBP is more effective in collecting penalty revenue, DHS' Office of Inspector General recommended in a Sept. 3 report on its audit of CBP.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 5 said a CBP headquarters ruling on see-through pop-up tent "pods" that differed in outcome from a previously decided protest didn't require public notice-and-comment because the protest wasn't a "prior interpretive ruling or decision." Judge Timothy Reif dismissed one of importer Under the Weather's counts in its customs classification case on the pods, finding that the prior protest approval wasn't the result of "considered deliberations," didn't have "prospective effect" and wasn't "interpretive."
Digital security cameras mounted as doorbells fall under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading governing TV cameras and video camera recorders, according to three separate CBP rulings issued June 21 and publicly released last week.