DOJ launched a cross-agency "Trade Fraud Task Force" on Aug. 29 to "bring robust enforcement against importers and other parties who seek to defraud the United States," the agency announced. The task force will bring together attorneys from the agency's civil and criminal divisions, along with officials at CBP, to target tariff evasion and "smugglers who seek to import prohibited goods into the American economy."
CBP began developing a system to automate duty and fee calculations for global mail entries in May, but the target deployment date for the functionality is still to be determined, according to the agency's ACE Development and Deployment Schedule for August.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
President Donald Trump said that the administration will petition the Supreme Court on Sept. 3 to make an "expedited ruling" on the legality of tariffs he imposed on every country through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Australian small businesses were given too little time to comply with the U.S. decision to end the de minimis exemption for low-value imports (see 2508280062), said Don Farrell, Australia’s trade minister. Farrell said he raised Australia’s "disappointment" earlier in the week with U.S. Trade Representative General Counsel Jennifer Thornton, adding that the move is mostly hurting “mum and dad operations that have had a successful product going into” the U.S.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., is asking the House Ways and Means chairman to direct the International Trade Commission to conduct a fact-finding investigation on the economic impacts of Peruvian blueberry exports on American blueberry growers.
Five House Democrats, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution to terminate the emergency that allowed President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on some Brazilian goods from 10% plus most-favored nation tariffs to 50% plus MFN.
Although CBP has provided guidance on how to file entries for steel and aluminum derivatives under the Section 232 tariffs, some trade community members are still unclear about how to determine the value of the steel or aluminum content in more complex situations, according to trade attorney George Tuttle, speaking on an Aug. 27 webinar.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 29 said the president doesn't have unlimited tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Seven of the court's 11 total justices presiding over the case affirmed the Court of International Trade's conclusion that President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico meant to combat the flow of fentanyl exceed the president's authority under IEEPA.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 29 said President Donald Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by imposing the reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to combat the flow of fentanyl. Declining to address whether IEEPA categorically provides for tariffs, though spilling much ink on the topic, a majority of the court held that IEEPA doesn't confer unbounded tariff authority (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. #s 25-1812, -1813).