Customs Duty

Actions resulting from the Commerce Department’s ongoing national security investigation on steel imports could disrupt U.S. import-intensive industries and any remedies should be tailored to specific types of steel, companies said in comments to Commerce (here). Commerce recently posted comments it accepted through May 31 on its Section 232 investigation on steel imports, which would allow the Trump administration to impose tariffs, quotas or other import restraints if the review finds steel imports endanger U.S. national security. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said the department should finish the examination this month (see 1705240034).

"Customs procedures," trade enforcement, and reducing trade deficits with Canada and Mexico will be centerpieces of the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said May 31 during a discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center (here). Ross covered U.S. negotiating objectives generally, but said enforcement will be the top priority, “because there’s not much point going through all the trouble to make an elaborate trade agreement if you’re not going to enforce it and really get the benefits of it that you bargained for,” Ross said. Ross’ words largely align with elements that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the U.S. would pursue for NAFTA in a formal notice to Congress (see 1705180043), as well as with areas that lawmakers cited as priorities relayed by Ross and Lighthizer during closed-door meetings (see 1705160082).

A group of domestic manufacturers recently filed a petition with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on fine denier polyester staple fiber from China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, and new countervailing duties on fine denier polyester staple fiber from China and India. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on fine denier PSF from these countries. The petition was filed by DAK Americas, Nan Ya Plastics America and Auriga Polymers.

The Court of International Trade on May 30 (here) denied a surety’s challenge to CBP’s extensions of liquidation on several entries while the agency conducted NAFTA verifications. International Fidelity Insurance contended that CBP’s investigation, which eventually found the textile entries did not qualify for NAFTA treatment, was rife with unreasonable delays, and that the entries it bonded should have been deemed liquidated because the extensions of liquidation were not justified. But finding CBP’s investigation “continual, if not consistent,” the court found CBP’s decisions to extend were based on well-founded agency policy.

Textile and apparel associations are readying a push for more structure in the short-supply process and the allowance of material cumulation from other free trade agreements within NAFTA, industry executives said in recent interviews. Although the Trump administration's interest in changes in NAFTA’s Textile and Apparel Chapter may be minimal, there might be some room during renegotiation to modify the agreement’s short supply list criteria and deadlines, U.S. Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) President Julia Hughes said in an interview. “There essentially have been no additions to the short supply list since NAFTA's implementation,” as all three member governments must approve any addition to the list, an American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) spokesman said in an email. NAFTA allows non-North American-originated fabrics on its short supply list to qualify for preferential treatment if cut and sewn in one or more NAFTA territories. The list comprises fabrics not produced in commercial quantities in the U.S.

Interest on past due customs duties and fees are subject to the same protest and judicial challenge procedures as those for any other duty or fee, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said on May 26 (here). Affirming a Court of International Trade ruling from August 2015 (see 1508200013), the appeals court held that, because interest on past due bills is protestable, American Home Assurance Company (AHAC) waived its right to challenge CBP’s interest calculations because it did not file a court challenge on a denied protest of the interest by the applicable deadline.

The International Trade Commission recently launched a Section 201 safeguard investigation on imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells and modules, according to documents available on an ITC database. Requested by Suniva in April (see 1704260045), the investigation will determine whether to impose additional duties and minimum price floors on solar cells and modules imported from any country. SolarWorld, another U.S. producer of solar cells, subsequently joined the investigation as a petitioner, it said in an April 25 press release (here).

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- The increase in the de minimis value threshold last year seems already to be driving a shift in international trade patterns, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner for the CBP Office of Trade, during a May 25 interview at the West Coast Trade Symposium. "What we're seeing is significant changes in supply chains," reflected in the growing number of Section 321 entries, she said. For example, one port in Alabama with few CBP officers "is suddenly getting this flood because it's close to a distribution center," she said. Likely, that's a result of container-loads full of under $800 small packages that qualify for de minimis, she said.

Despite the near elimination of an account for ACE development in the proposed fiscal year 2018 budget (see 1705230031), CBP is requesting additional funding for ensuring the system continues to operate smoothly, according to its FY 2018 budget justification (here). The proposed budget includes an “increase of $45.1 million” in FY 2018 for “ACE Core Functionality,” including funding for additional “software sustainment teams.” CBP is also requesting substantial increases in funding required to implement mandates in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- CBP is looking at a wide range of options for meeting the goals of the March executive order (see 1704030033) meant to resolve issues of unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties, said Troy Riley, executive director-Commercial Targeting and Enforcement in the CBP Office of Trade. Riley, who is leading implementation of the executive order, discussed several things being considered, including suspending importer of record numbers that haven't been used in years and new bonding schemes, during a panel on May 24 at the West Coast Trade Symposium. Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner for the CBP Office of Trade, alluded to the likelihood of additional orders along the same lines. "My guess is we have not seen the end of" trade-focused executive orders, said Smith, who moderated the panel.