The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on citric acid and certain citrate salts from Belgium (A-423-813), Colombia (A-301-803) and Thailand (A-549-833), and its recently initiated countervailing duty investigation on citric acid and certain citrate salts from Thailand (C-549-834).
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Nan Ya Plastics America filed a petition on June 26 with the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on low-melt polyester staple fiber from South Korea and Taiwan. Commerce will now decide whether to begin an AD duty investigation on low-melt polyester staple fiber, which is used in conjunction with other fibers to form a formable material used in automotive headliners, floors, trunks and engine hoods, where padding or barriers for insulation must fit precisely while maintaining a specific shape for long durations, the petition said.
CBP's plans for addressing unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties as part of President Donald Trump’s March 31 executive order (see 1703310076) are due to the White House this week. A CBP spokeswoman said the agency may provide a public update in coming days. Lisa Gelsomino, enforcement and revenue subcommittee chair on the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), said "CBP has performed outreach with COAC Working Groups and various industries to collect information and understand challenges while also racing to meet the 90-day deadline required by the" executive order. CBP will need "to share its plan with the White House by the deadline before any public information can be shared," said Gelsomino, who is also CEO of Avalon Risk Management.
Representatives of the international and domestic textile and apparel industry concurred that a renegotiated NAFTA should preserve application of the Berry Amendment, in testimony on June 27, but differed on whether tariff preference levels (TPLs) should stay in place. Speaking during a hearing convened by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative featuring interagency partners, American Apparel and Footwear Association Executive Vice President Stephen Lamar and Rubber and Plastics Footwear Manufacturers Association trade counsel Marc Fleischaker said NAFTA should maintain the general statutory requirement for the Defense Department to give procurement preferences to domestically produced products. “The NAFTA government procurement chapter should carefully and specifically preserve the applicability of the Berry Amendment in the United States,” Fleischaker said during the hearing at the International Trade Commission.
The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ripe Olives filed a petition on June 21 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on ripe olives, which are a processed product, typically black in color, used on pizzas, sandwiches and salads.
Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s June 26 trip to the White House, the top Republican and Democrat on both congressional trade committees in a letter urged President Donald Trump to prioritize the elimination of Indian trade barriers, including “burdensome import and customs procedures.” High tariffs, inadequate intellectual property rights protection, inconsistent and opaque licensing and regulatory practices are among the issues cited by the lawmakers in the June 23 letter (here). India imposes “especially” high tariffs on agricultural products, which has led to smuggling of U.S. goods like almonds through third countries to avoid high customs duties, the lawmakers said. Furthermore, India recently raised tariffs on medical devices and information technology products, in contravention of its commitments under the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement, they said. India imposes forced localization measures on solar and IT products as well as “duplicative” in-country security testing requirements for telecommunications equipment, the letter says.
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on fine denier polyester staple fiber from China (A-570-060), India (A-533-875), South Korea (A-580-893), Taiwan (A-583-860) and Vietnam (A-552-822), and its recently initiated countervailing duty investigations on fine denier polyester staple fiber from India (C-533-876) and China (C-570-061).
AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will raise the need for a worldwide unique facility identifier when he travels to Brussels in early July for a meeting of the World Customs Organization policy council, Valerie Neuhart, acting director of CBP’s Office of Trade Relations, said on June 21. McAleenan will be joined in the effort by representatives from Canada and Mexico, who have also been in discussions with CBP about harmonizing unique facility identifiers, she said, speaking during a panel discussion of upcoming ACE priorities at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference.
Several types of automotive and cylinder tubes produced by Sumitomo Corporation of Americas and Nippon Steel & Sumkin Pipe Mexico are exempt from antidumping duties on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from Mexico (A-201-805), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. Under criteria developed in the context of a NAFTA panel decision, a product qualifies as mechanical tubing exempt from the AD duty order if it either (1) has dimensions that do not overlap with tolerances for ASTM A-513 standard pipe or, if galvanized, fence tubing, or (2) is produced to specialized, stringent production standards and is made-to-order. In the case of the 13 types of automotive and cylinder tubes produced by Sumitomo and Nippon Steel, 12 models do not have dimensions that overlap with tolerances for standard pipe or fence tubing. The other model is produced to custom specifications for use in high pressure lines for construction equipment, and is made to order for a single customer, Commerce said. As such, all 13 models are mechanical tubing exempted from AD duties, it said.
Trade groups are eyeing the miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) set to be considered in November as a possible vehicle for renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences program, industry executives said in recent interviews. “We’re thinking that those two will be packaged together to move, and so we’re hoping that’ll give additional impetus” to Congress for renewing GSP before the program expires Dec. 31, said American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) Senior Vice President for Supply Chain Nate Herman. AAFA and other stakeholders are feeling an increased urgency to push for renewal after Congress let GSP benefits lapse between 2013 and 2015 before passing trade preferences legislation to re-enact the program (see 1605160032), Herman said.