Harmonized Tariff Schedule

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is reinstating African Growth and Opportunity Act textile and apparel benefits for Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), it said in a notice. Eswatini, which adopted its new name in April, has implemented an effective visa system to prevent transshipment of textiles and apparel, and has put in place customs verification procedures, USTR said. Effective July 3, USTR is directing that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule be amended to add Eswatini to U.S. note 7(a) to subchapter II of chapter 98. USTR is also amending other provisions of the HTS to reflect the country’s name change, deleting “Swaziland” and adding in its place “Eswatini” for U.S. notes 1 and 2(d) to subchapter XIX of chapter 98, was well as for general notes 4(a) and 16(a) of the tariff schedule.

CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1807 on June 28, containing 1,635 Automated Broker Interface records and 385 harmonized tariff records, it said in a CSMS message. "This update includes modifications made as a result of the 484 F Committee, the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules," CBP said. Other changes are part of the implementation of the World Trade Organization Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (see 1707030038).

The International Trade Commission posted Revision 6 to the 2018 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS implements the third round of tariff cuts under the expanded World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement, and adds new tariff numbers for a variety of products, including organic fruits and vegetables, lighted mirrors and molded or pressed paper plates. The ITC is also adding new tariff provisions that appear to cover products subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells and products from China and Taiwan, and reorganizing tariff classification provisions for archaeological and ethnographic objects. All changes take effect July 1, unless otherwise specified.

International Trade Today is again providing a table of changes to tariffs in the HTS for certain products as a result of implementation of the Expanded World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement (see 1607010056 and 1607050003). The third set of staged tariff reductions will take effect July 1. The previous set tariff reductions were implemented in Revision 1 to the 2017 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (see 1707030037). While tariffs on many products were eliminated completely when the agreement took effect in July 2016, other products subject to expanded ITA will see tariffs phased out over a three-year period, with tariffs eventually reduced to zero in 2019.

Whether the material was imported from South Korea, which is not eligible for exclusions at all; whether the filer was a law firm, an experienced importer, a one-time importer or a manufacturer -- the denial memos all read exactly the same. All of the denials say the application was not complete enough "to verify the product description and/or [Harmonized Tariff Schedule] code," and the requester can apply again without prejudice.

A coalition of U.S. manufacturers is seeking the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on steel racks from China, the group said in a petition filed June 19 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by the Coalition for Fair Rack Imports, which counts nine companies as members.

Goods don’t qualify for duty-free treatment under the Nairobi Protocol simply because they are made to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Court of International Trade said in a June 19 decision. Toilets imported by Danze are classified as regular toilets, rather than falling under a special tariff provision for products specially designed for the handicapped, because they are meant and advertised for general use, despite including all features required under ADA standards for toilets, CIT said.

The latest list of goods from China proposed to be subject to 25 percent Section 301 tariffs appears to hit chemicals, plastics, resins and semiconductors, according to a list of tariff subheadings released by the U.S. Trade Representative on June 15 (see 1806150003). Other affected products include cargo containers, tractors and railway equipment. Comments on the list are due July 23 and a hearing is scheduled for July 24 (see 1806190060). New tariffs on 818 other subheadings from the original list take effect July 6.

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee criticized Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on June 20 over the steel and aluminum tariffs and the implementation of granting exclusions for certain imports subject to those tariffs. Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, who described a nail maker in her home state of Missouri who is laying off more than half its 500-person workforce as its inputs' cost increases, told him: "it appears to me a chaotic and, frankly, incompetent manner you're picking winners and losers." Only Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, asked supportive questions during the hearing on tariffs.

New Chinese 25 percent tariffs on goods from the U.S. set to take effect on July 6 (see 1806150037) are mostly focused on meat, agriculture and cars. China said it would impose initial tariffs on those and other goods mentioned in a first list on the same date the U.S will impose its Section 301 tariffs on goods from China (see 1806150003). China said it also plans to eventually add tariffs to goods mentioned in a second list, which includes chemical products, medical equipment and energy products.