The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices on Oct. 15:

The Commerce Department seeks public comments on any subsidies, including stumpage subsidies, paid by certain countries that exported softwood lumber to the U.S. Jan. 1 through June 30, 2024, it said in a notice. The Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 requires Commerce to submit a report every 180 days on any subsidy provided by nations exporting softwood lumber or softwood products to the U.S., including subsidies for stumpage. Commerce is seeking input on subsidies paid by countries whose exports composed at least 1% of total U.S. softwood imports by quantity, as classified under tariff schedule subheadings 4407.1100, 4407.1200, 4407.1300, 4407.1400 and 4407.1900, the agency said. International Trade Commission Tariff and Trade DataWeb information indicates that five countries -- Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany and Sweden -- exported that much softwood lumber to the U.S. during that six-month period. Comments are due Nov. 14.

The Treasury Department is seeking public comments on an information collection involving the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Rough Diamonds Control Regulations, which outline restrictions on certain diamond imports. Under the regulations, Treasury said the person listed as the ultimate consignee on the entry summary or its electronic equivalent must report that person’s receipt of a shipment of rough diamonds “to the relevant foreign exporting authority within 15 calendar days of the date that the shipment arrived at the U.S. port of entry.” Comments on the information collection are due Dec. 16.

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 Oct. 11, 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 has defined two dates in late October for when the agency expects to have enhancements ready for two initiatives, one related to the processing of multiple entry summaries and the other related to unarchiving a previous collection to make an adjustment, according to CBP's National Development & Deployment Schedule for October.

Initial entry summary payments may be sent to alternate ports of entry or other service ports, not just the port of entry where cargo was released, CBP said Oct. 15 in a cargo systems message.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week held that tire retailer Texas Truck Parts & Tire was the "beneficial owner" of tires imported by Chinese manufacturers and, as such, is liable for excise taxes on the imports (Texas Truck Parts & Tire v. United States, 5th Cir. # 23-20588).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened a portal to be used for submitting exclusion requests for industrial machinery outside the solar sector.