President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Nov. 4 implementing a cut in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act fentanyl tariffs on China to 10%. The tariff cut takes effect Nov. 10, as expected (see 2511030005).

As the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative considers whether the U.S. wants to continue the USMCA, it will evaluate more than 1,500 comments from farmers, manufacturers, retailers, civic society and broad business interests that operate in all three countries.

While importers may explore tariff mitigation strategies such as duty drawback, bonded warehouses, foreign-trade zones and free trade agreement eligibility, ensuring proper tariff classification should be the first and top priority, because potentially thousands of dollars in the underpayment -- or overpayment -- of duties is at stake if a good is classified incorrectly, speakers said during a panel at last week's International Compliance Professionals Association conference in Texas.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- The Trump administration appears to be ditching the standard of reasonable care by importers in favor of strict compliance when enforcing customs violations, trade lawyer David Murphy said at the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade's (CONECT) Northeast Trade and Transportation Conference on Oct. 29.

The U.S. will drop tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 percentage points on Nov. 10, and also will stop collecting ship-docking fees under the Section 301 action on shipbuilding on that date, the administration announced over the weekend. The fees are suspended for one year.

President Donald Trump, on a flight to Florida for the weekend, told reporters that China is "working very hard" on cracking down on fentanyl precursor trafficking, in the hopes of completely eliminating the 20 percentage points of tariffs the U.S. imposed over that issue. Trump already agreed to reduce it by 10 percentage points.

As CBP ramps up enforcement and seeks to ensure that importers' claims of first sale are valid, expect the agency to pay close attention to the documents of the middleman, said tax consultants with KPMG during an Oct. 27 presentation on first sale at the International Compliance Professionals Association's annual conference in Texas.

CBP released guidance on Section 232 import duties for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, medium- and heavy-duty truck parts, and buses via an Oct. 29 cargo systems message.

Increased U.S. scrutiny of Mexican truck drivers' English-speaking proficiency is raising concerns within the drayage industry that drivers who cross the U.S. border and perform drayage within a limited distance from the border will be prevented from doing their jobs.

The U.S. is dropping 10 percentage points of the 20% fentanyl tariff on China, and is also lifting port fees on Chinese commercial ships, after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea.