A House member who is running for the Senate in Indiana asked the Commerce Department to initiate an investigation on the import of electric vehicles and electric vehicle batteries made anywhere in the world.
The Federal Maritime Commission is preparing for another uptick in enforcement and is expecting a range of rulemakings to be finalized during or before FY 2025, including a new charge complaint process, a new container data collection effort and a new electronic court case management system. The commission previewed those updates as part of a $48.4 million congressional funding request released this week for FY 2025 -- about a $5 million increase from the $43.7 million it requested the previous year (see 2303200063).
House Ways and Means Subcommitee Chair Mike Kelly, R-Pa., warned that the committee would not "stand by idly and watch the Biden administration and Treasury Department sacrifice American tax dollars for political gain." Kelly, who was holding a hearing this week on the implications of international negotiations on extra-territorial taxes, including digital services taxes, said the draft deal at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will disadvantage U.S. firms.
Democrats that represent Michigan and Ohio, where Big 3 automakers' plants are concentrated, are asking that the Section 301 review hike tariffs on Chinese automakers. Section 301 tariffs already apply a 25% tariff, making the total duty for a Chinese auto 27.5%.
CBP finalized its December 2022 interim final rule that moved the responsibility for administering refunds, reduced tax rates and tax credits on imported alcohol from CBP to the Treasury Department. In a notice released March 5, CBP formally adopted changes that took effect in January 2023 that moved the responsibility of the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA) from CBP to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) within Treasury (see 2209220065). The change was required by the Tax Relief Act of 2020, which made CBMA permanent but transferred its administration to the TTB. The rule takes effect March 6.
President Joe Biden said a regulatory effort from the Commerce Department to curtail the use of software, sensors and cameras in automobiles made by Chinese firms is one of the actions the administration is taking "to make sure the future of the auto industry will be made here in America with American workers."
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., started a Congressional Review Act process that could restore a ban on beef imports from Paraguay if it passes in both chambers. The two had already tried to introduce a bill to ban the beef imports.
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that could make changes to the exclusion process for Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Feb. 15, about six months after it published proposed changes aimed at improving the accuracy and efficiency of exclusion requests and objections (see 2308250035).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is making progress on an Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) supply chain rule involving “connected vehicles.” The agency sent the prerule for interagency review on Feb. 16.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee said that getting Chinese shipments banned from the de minimis program is how he'd like to close out his congressional career. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is retiring at the end of 2024. "I think we will see this moving forward, if only for the animus toward China" in Congress, he said.