Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed suit at the Court of International Trade Feb. 16 to contest six questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam. In her complaint, Stoute-Francois said that after appealing the test results to the Treasury Department, she was left just short of the 75% grade needed to pass the test, failing at 73.75% (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
CBP granted an importer's protest that an automatic aerosol dispenser is classified as an appliance part, rather than as an appliance itself, in a recently released ruling.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it's extending the deadline for an international corporate income tax deal, and is extending its pause on retaliatory tariffs on countries that have passed or were considering passing digital services taxes against American firms.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2403 Feb. 13, containing 590 ABI records and 120 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. The update includes several partner government agency Harmonized Tariff Schedule flag updates, as well as adjustments required by the verification of the 2024 HTS.
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.
National Association of Manufacturers CEO Jay Timmons said that all of his 250 members want liberalized trade, and said he didn't understand why a simple issue like the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill has been hung up in partisan conflict for three years.
CBP has released its Feb. 14 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 06), which includes the following ruling action:
A climate policy adviser to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat and lead advocate for a domestic carbon tax paired with a carbon border tax, said he thinks the expiration of Trump tax credits in 2025 could create a window to pass some sort of carbon border adjustment tax, because Congress will be seeking revenue raisers to be able to continue the tax cuts.
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CBP released a new guidance document Feb. 12 on how the agency sets bond amounts, replacing the bond directive it issued in 1991 with a new "Guide for the Public" that the agency has said will accompany a revised internal directive on bonds (see 2309150061).