The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service intends to allow imports of fresh thyme, marjoram and oregano from Kenya, it said in a notice Jan. 17. An agency pest risk analysis found “the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds” with the importation of the fresh herbs, APHIS said. If APHIS finalizes the decision, it will allow imports into the U.S., subject to the phytosanitary requirements specified by the agency. Comments will be accepted through March 18.

Both Asian countries and American businesses had hoped that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework could be a step on the road to lowering tariffs, trade experts said during a webinar on the future of IPEF, but now they're wondering if there will be any economically significant effect at all from talks about trade facilitation, green transition and supply chain resilience.

Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., reintroduced a bill that would add digital trade policies to the eligibility criteria for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. He first introduced the bill in 2021 (see 2105100012).

The House of Representatives voted 403-9 to create a position of global trade specialist, consolidating several existing positions, including import specialist and drawback specialist.

Carlton Llewellyn, former senior executive at cargo airline Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, pleaded guilty on Jan. 16 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the airline, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The count comes with a maximum five-year prison stint, and in addition, Llewellyn agreed to pay $347,879.44 in forfeiture and a restitution payment of $305,800 to Polar. Sentencing is scheduled for May 7.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Jan. 16, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.

CBP will on Jan. 27 deploy an update to the timing of entry type 86 release messages in the air environment in ACE, the agency said in a CSMS message on Jan. 17. The update will modify the timing of the automatic release message for "non-express air cargo for Entry Type 86" to make sure that CBP has sufficient time to review the entries and notify filers of holds, CBP said. Specifically, release messages for type 86 entries won't be sent until a flight has arrived, rather than being sent when the flight departs, preventing entry type 86 cargo "from being released outside of port hours," CBP said in a trade information notice released last month..

CBP has released its Jan. 17 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 02), which includes the following ruling action:

CBP affirmed an August 2023 Enforce and Protect Act decision that thermal paper from Germany transshipped through Mexico was covered by the scope of, and evaded, an antidumping duty order, the agency said in a de novo administrative review on Dec. 22.