If the Supreme Court eliminates the president's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, it may not mean the return of the de minimis exemption, which President Donald Trump also ended via IEEPA, trade lawyers told us.
CBP has added more parties to the list of those qualified to pay duties on international mail shipments (see 2509150015), according to a Jan. 14 cargo systems message. The list is available here.
Public comments submitted to the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's Jan. 14 meeting were supportive of the committee's recommendations calling for CBP to release clearer and additional guidance on how importers can comply with Section 232 tariffs (see 2601120017), particularly when it comes to the valuation of steel and aluminum content.
CBP should write a report on whether self-initiation of cases under the Enforce and Protect Act "would allow CBP to pursue more circumvention cases and extend existing investigations deeper into supply chains fully and whether such authority would result in greater enforcement," wrote the Senate Appropriations Committee, in its instructions to CBP as part of its DHS annual appropriations bill. It directed the agency to compile the report within 90 days of the bill's enactment.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked the U.S. attorney general and Homeland Security Investigations "to prioritize Shein and Temu facilities for immediate inspections, seizures, and criminal investigations" over their counterfeits and intellectual property theft.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
EPA may be proposing an interpretation of the Toxic Substances Control Act that finds that the agency doesn't have the statutory authority to require reporting from those importing articles containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to attorneys with Bergeson and Campbell in a recent blog post on EPA's plans to amend PFAS regulations and allow certain exemptions to the scope of reporting PFAS (see 2511120028).
Manufacturing trade groups and companies mostly argued in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative that USMCA rules of origin for their sectors shouldn't change as part of the pact's review, and if they do, it should be only after extensive consultation with industry, and with adequate transition times.
The U.K. on Nov. 26 opened a public comment period for its planned elimination of duty exemptions for low-value imports. The country for several months had been reviewing whether to remove the tariff exemption for imports costing under 135 pounds, and the finance ministry said it expects to eliminate the exemption by March 2029 "at the latest."