Producing scrubs in Haiti allows American firms to avoid 29% tariffs on pants, 16% tariffs on tops, and still import the fabric from Asia. But the trade preferences for Haiti known as HOPE/HELP expire in three months and 11 days, and Republicans who control the voting calendar are not reassuring the companies that it will be renewed on time.
An individual importer, Ricardo Vega, will receive refunds for a Porsche imported in 2023, according to a stipulated judgment filed at the Court of International Trade on June 17. Similarly, importers Yellowbird Enterprises and Vantage Point Services will receive refunds for duties paid on a Jaguar also entered in 2023.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Senate version of the tax bill moving through Congress cut out two trade-related provisions that passed the House -- one, which would end de minimis for all imports in July 2027, and the other, curtailing drawback for tobacco products.
Members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend that CBP beef up its communications with the trade by providing more transparency over when CBP updates the FAQs that the agency has been using to inform the trade on how it's implementing new tariffs.
Pharmaceutical tariffs, which President Donald Trump said are coming soon, loomed over a seminar on fragile supply chains for medicines, but both the hosts at the think tank and the guests agreed, they will neither reduce dependency on imports nor solve shortages.
Vietnam and the Philippines are the Southeast Asian countries closest to a trade deal with the U.S., said a former assistant U.S. trade representative on a webinar hosted by the Asia Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on June 17.
Texas-based industrial equipment supplier Unicat was ordered to pay $1,655,189.57 in unpaid duties to CBP after it illegally evaded tariffs on imported chemical catalysts. The company’s former CEO, Mani Erfan, “devised and implemented a tariff avoidance scheme” in which the company falsely understated the value of its imported catalysts and the duties owed to CBP, DOJ said. The company sourced most of its catalysts from China, the agency said.
The Comfy, a "wearable, oversized item covering the front and back with a hood, sleeves, ribbed cuffs, and a marsupial pocket," is a pullover and not a blanket, the Court of International Trade held on June 16. Issuing a decision after a five-day bench trial held last year, Judge Stephen Vaden said, as a matter of fact, The Comfy doesn't protect against "extreme cold," and that, as a matter of law, the item fits under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 6110, which provides for pullovers.
The importer seeking class certification at the Court of International Trade to obtain refunds for tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act voluntarily dismissed its case June 16. Counsel for the importer didn't respond to a request for comment (Chapter1 v. United States, CIT # 25-00097).