CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 22-28:
Two apparel trade experts said the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act had a bigger impact on sourcing shifts than this year's trade war, but if the framework agreements with Guatemala and El Salvador turn into full agreements, the duty-free status for qualifying apparel from those countries could make a difference.
Companies in the U.S. and the EU are increasingly being asked by Chinese business partners to certify that they’re not exporting rare earths in violation of Chinese export restrictions, including in some cases through post-shipment audits, lawyers said.
The Commerce Department is increasing the “all others” antidumping duty rate applicable to thermal paper from Germany from exporters that have never received their own AD rate, it said in a notice released Dec. 23. Implementing a Court of International Trade decision that mandated changes to Commerce’s calculations from the original 2021 AD investigation, Commerce said the “all others” rate will rise to 6.27%, from 2.9%. The new rate is applicable Dec. 1.
Starting Jan. 7, shipments of Anguilla rostrata (American eel) in and out of the U.S. will require appropriate documentation acknowledging the species' inclusion in Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), according to a Fish and Wildlife Service notice. This may consist of a CITES export permit, CITES certificate of origin or CITES re-export certificate.
A bill to impose a carbon border adjustment was reintroduced in the House and Senate this week. The Clean Competition Act is sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse D-R.I., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee.
A bill to allow goods headed for export to Mexico and Canada to avoid tariffs on imported components was introduced this week by five House Republicans and one Democrat.
The U.S. declined to prosecute a criminal trade fraud case against global plastic resin distributor MGI International and its subsidiaries Global Plastics and Marco Polo International, DOJ announced on Dec. 18. The agency agreed to credit a $6.8 million payment made by MGI to settle a civil case against the company for knowingly failing to pay customs duties on plastic resin entries from China in its decision not to proceed with a criminal investigation for the same conduct.
A bipartisan bill to increase financial pressure on Russia to stop its aggression in Ukraine no longer gives the president the authority to hike tariffs on countries like Turkey, China and Hungary that purchase Russian oil and gas. The original approach was to give the president the ability to impose tariffs as high as 500% on those countries' exports; he has hiked tariffs on Indian goods by 25 percentage points over the issue.