Some companies and associations in the solar industry endorsed additional tariffs on Chinese polysilicon, but others expressed concern that allied countries will be hit with overlapping Section 232 tariffs on both imports of polysilicon and solar cells, in public comments to the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The Census Bureau is finalizing a rule that will expand the types of parties responsible for submitting export filings for in-transit shipments that are imported to the U.S. from foreign countries before being exported to another foreign destination. The agency also is adding new language to acknowledge that those parties rely on information from others to make sure the shipments comply with export controls, said it plans to eventually move forward with a new country of origin reporting requirement for in-transit exports, revised its detention for "ultimate consignee" and made other clarifications to the Foreign Trade Regulations.
U.S.-origin resin bought by a Chinese manufacturer to make zipper bags isn't an assist for valuation purposes because it was bought at full price from U.S. suppliers unrelated to the U.S. importer of the bags, CBP said in a recent ruling.
The Commerce Department is beginning an anti-circumvention inquiry to determine whether all imports of steel wire garment hangers from Cambodia made from Chinese or Vietnamese steel wire are circumventing antidumping duties and countervailing duties on steel wire garment hangers from Vietnam (A-552-812/C-552-813) and an AD order on steel wire garment hangers from China (A-570-918), it said in a notice to be published Aug. 12.
The president's trade team has been suggesting that its definition of transshipment is different than what the word has traditionally meant -- that they will assign country of origin based on how much of the finished good was made from local inputs.
The U.S. filed a motion for default judgment on Aug. 7 against importer E-Dong, U.S.A. in pursuit of $234,748.30 in lost revenue due to the importer's negligent failure to pay a federal excise tax on its "Korean distilled beverage soju." The government said E-Dong lied on customs forms by misclassifying the distilled liquor as rice wine, adding that these misstatements "constitute negligent violations for failure to exercise reasonable care and competence" (United States v. E-Dong, U.S.A., CIT # 24-00066).
The Commerce Department has released the preliminary results of its antidumping duty administrative review on carbon and alloy steel threaded rod from India (A-533-887). In the final results of this review, Commerce may set assessment rates for subject merchandise entered April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024, from the sole mandatory respondent in this review.
A 40% tariff on transshipped goods could apply to goods that include third-country content above 30%, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, speaking on Fox Business Aug. 7.
CBP created Harmonized System Updates 2530 and 2531 on Aug. 5. HSU 2530 contains 404 Automated Broker Interface records and 135 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. HSU 2531 contains four ABI records and two HTS records. HSU 2530 includes the additional duties on imports from Brazil effective Aug. 6, the reciprocal tariff updates effective Aug. 7, and miscellaneous tariff adjustments required by verification of the 2025 HTS. HSU 2531 includes an update to the countries of origin for the EU reciprocal tariffs.
Thompson Hine trade lawyer Dan Ujczo, who has expertise in North American trade and, particularly, automotive trade in the USMCA region, said the way the carve-outs to 25% Section 232 tariffs have been shaking out has surprised him -- and, he believes, has surprised countries that are automaking powerhouses.