Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said his trade priorities for the next two years are supporting the negotiation of comprehensive free trade deals that expand market access for American producers, supporting the negotiation of digital trade rules and intellectual property protections, and reauthorizing key trade programs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 8 heard oral argument in the massive Section 301 litigation, primarily probing the litigants' positions regarding how to interpret the term "modify" in the statute and whether the statute allows the U.S. trade representative to impose duties in response to retaliatory measures from China (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
The International Trade Commission is requesting public input by Feb. 7 on how it can improve its presentation of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, it said in a notice to be published Jan. 8. Specifically, the ITC is looking for ways to improve navigability, usability and accessibility of the HTSUS information, as well as ways to compare changes made in the HTSUS.
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President-elect Donald Trump, at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago Jan. 7, threatened substantial tariffs on Mexico and Canada over migration and drug smuggling issues, and had a lengthy list of complaints in particular about Canada.
The incoming administration is thinking about applying tariffs on strategic goods from all countries, rather than a 10% or 20% global tariff, The Washington Post reported, citing three anonymous sources.
The International Trade Commission posted the 2025 Basic Edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements a variety of 10-digit-level changes for fruits and vegetables, chemicals and other products. Changes were effective as of Jan. 1 unless otherwise noted.
CBP created Harmonized System Update 2422 on Dec. 31, containing 290 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 55 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. HSU 2422 includes end of year HTS adjustments required by the verification of the 2025 Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
CBP has released its Jan. 1 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 59, No. 1). It contains two notices of information collection activities, one related to the declaration of free entry of returned American products (CBP Form 3311), and the other on documentation requirements for articles entered under various special tariff treatment provisions -- that is, articles classified under subheadings 9801.00.10, 9802.00.20, 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50, 9802.00.60 and 9817.00.40.
While it's still CBP's goal in the next 16 days to release a notice of proposed rulemaking on requirements for data submissions and on restrictions for goods eligible for de minimis, agency officials acknowledged that one or both might not be ready in time.