Industry groups asked the U.S. government to work to repeal restrictions on NAFTA drawback and duty deferral and to expand ACE, in response to the Commerce Department’s request for information (here) on regulations that hamper domestic manufacturing. Although negotiators included the drawback and deferral restrictions in NAFTA to prevent China from using Mexico as a platform for component parts to be exported to the U.S., several companies involved in duty preference programs for foreign investors and domestic firms have nevertheless convinced suppliers from Asia and Europe to establish production facilities in Mexico to replace imports from non-NAFTA sources, according to the Duty Drawback Coalition’s comments (here). To counter the negative effects of NAFTA drawback restrictions on foreign-owned manufacturing plants in Mexico, Mexico established Sectoral Promotion Programs, which reduce several standard duty rates, the coalition said. Canada has reduced duty rates to mitigate the effects of the NAFTA drawback restrictions as well, the group said.

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Gilbert Kaplan to serve as under secretary of commerce for international trade, the White House said (here). Kaplan is currently an attorney in King & Spalding’s International Trade Group. At the firm, he filed the first-ever successful U.S. anti-subsidy case against China and before that served as deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of commerce for import administration, it said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 3-9:

The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 27 - April 2:

Employees for national customs permit holders may submit entries from a remote location, considered to be "customs business," as long as there's sufficient responsible supervision and control, CBP said in a March 21 ruling (here). That ruling, HQ H258892, involved Superior Brokerage Services (SBS), which holds local port permits and a "national permit in order to file entries remotely from their Minneapolis/St. Paul and Miami locations," CBP said. The company sought CBP input on whether its unlicensed employees in the Chicago freight forwarding office would be allowed to transmit entries remotely on weekends through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), ACE or the Automated Commercial System. The law allows for only certain people to be involved in "customs business."

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 27-31 in case they were missed.

The Commerce Department will undertake a review of China’s non-market economy status in antidumping and countervailing duty cases, it said in a notice (here). The inquiry, which will be conducted as part of the recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on aluminum foil from China (see 1703290017), will determine whether China should be graduated to market economy status, which could result in lower and more predictable AD rates for Chinese companies. Commerce will accept public comments as part of the inquiry. The notice has yet to be published in the Federal Register, but upon publication comments will be due within 30 days.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 20-26:

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 20-24 in case they were missed.