CBP has released its Sept. 25 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 38), which includes the following actions, including one ruling revocation:
Texas-based syringe importer Retractable Technologies took to the Court of International Trade to contest the 100% increase of Section 301 tariffs recently imposed on needles and syringes from China. The complaint is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the duties, claiming that the tariffs could send the company out of business (Retractable Technologies v. United States, CIT # 24-00185).
Three Republican senators reintroduced a bill to end permanent normal trade relations with China, and to set tariff rates of at least 35% for Chinese goods, if the Column 2 tariffs are not that high, as well as 100% tariffs on 38 pages of Harmonize Tariff Schedule lines enumerated in the bill.
A bill to require the Justice Department to establish a trade-crime task force, and to allow for parallel criminal and civil enforcement actions, passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously. The bill, called the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Crimes Act, was sponsored by the leaders of the House Select Committee on China and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, another China committee member.
The chair and co-chair of the House Select Committee on China told an audience of Uyghur activists and others concerned about Chinese human rights abuses that they are pleased recommendations from their committee have become legislation.
David Hampton, deputy executive director, Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate at CBP, told an audience at the Victims of Communism's annual China Forum that, over the next two years, CBP will be "reinvigorating our efforts to pursue penalties" with a team that's dedicated to administering penalties related to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Former President Donald Trump, speaking at campaign rallies around the country in recent days in his quest to return to the White House, has threatened to impose a 200% tariff on John Deere imports if it keeps expanding manufacturing in Mexico, and that he would do the same to anyone else that moved manufacturing to another country.
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The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.
Statutes and regulations administered by the Federal Maritime Commission will remain in effect if International Longshoremen’s Association members go on strike next week at container terminals at East and Gulf coast ports, the FMC said in an industry advisory Sept. 23.