The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on softwood lumber products from Canada (A-122-857/C-122-858). The agency will determine whether imports of Canadian softwood lumber are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value or are illegally subsidized. The CV duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2015. The AD duty investigation covers entries Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2016.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
President Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation (here) making certain imported products from Nepal eligible to receive preferential duty treatment through a program authorized by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA), and adding the Central African Republic as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary sub-Saharan African country, among other things. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule will need to be modified to implement duty-free treatment for the Nepal Preference Program in accordance with TFTEA, the proclamation said. The proclamation will also extend until Dec. 31, 2017, the U.S. provision of duty-free access for certain agricultural goods from Israel under the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement. Changes related to implementing the Nepal duty preference program will take effect Dec. 30 and continue through Dec. 31, 2025, according to the proclamation. The U.S.-Israel FTA-related modifications will take effect Jan. 1. It is unclear when the Central African Republic’s AGOA beneficiary designation will enter into force.
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on hardwood plywood from China (A-570-051/C-570-052). The agency will determine whether imports of Chinese hardwood plywood are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value or are illegally subsidized. The CV duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2015. The AD duty investigation covers entries April 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2016.
While the president doesn’t have express constitutional authority to modify tariffs, several congressionally approved statutes give the White House authority to change tariffs based on a findings that other countries’ exports to the U.S. pose a threat, according to a recently released Congressional Research Service (CRS) report (here). But such delegations of power usually accompany clearly defined conditions and often include time restrictions, the report said.
CBP issued a CSMS message (here) announcing that in accordance with 19 CFR 142.21(i), it is issuing a "blanket" authorization to allow the release of most types of merchandise on or after Dec. 16 through Dec. 31 under Immediate Delivery (ID) procedures. Many entry filers make regular use of ID procedures for fresh fruits and vegetables and other merchandise from Mexico and Canada, etc.
The International Trade Commission released descriptions of upcoming changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement the 2017 edition of the Harmonized System. Detailed in an annex to ITC Publication 4653 (here), “Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States under Section 1206 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and for Other Purposes,” the changes will take effect Jan. 1. President Barack Obama mandated the changes via Presidential Proclamation 9549, which also implements staged duty reductions under the Information Technology Agreement and several bilateral trade agreements (see 1612020015).
References to “Pignolia” in the tariff schedule include only nuts of the Pinus pinea tree, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued Dec. 2 (here). Other kinds of pine nuts, including seeds of the Pinus koraiensis tree imported by Specialty Commodities, are not classifiable as pignolia in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, CIT said.
President Barack Obama on Dec. 1 issued a presidential proclamation modifying the tariff schedule (here). Changes include implementation of the 2017 Harmonized System tariff nomenclature adopted by the World Customs Organization (see 14073002 and 14073101), with specific changes and their effective date to be outlined in an as-yet-unreleased International Trade Commission report. Other modifications to the tariff schedule implement phased tariff cuts under the Information Technology Agreement (see 1607050018) and several bilateral free trade agreements. International Trade Today will provide further information as more details are released.
Seekers of miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) duty reductions for garment ensembles should include the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings and descriptions of individual, constituent garments in the “article description” part of their petitions for duty relief so that the International Trade Commission can accurately calculate revenue loss, ITC attorney-adviser Jan Summers said during a Nov. 29 webinar. ITC officials hosted the webinar to clarify information to include in MTB petitions after it received several improper filings since the opening of ITC’s online petition portal on Oct. 14 (see 1611090012). Filers can narrow the scope of apparel filings by defining fabric types more specifically, Summers said. “But you’d want to be careful,” she said. “Don’t add a requirement that would force the product to be classified in another rate line, or that causes interpretive issues.” After the ITC received a question about whether to include fabric sourcing information in petitions, Summers said that data isn’t appropriate for including in article descriptions. Filers also shouldn’t describe an apparel article according to the company that makes it, Summers added.
A petition filed Nov. 25 by a domestic industry coalition seeking new antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood lumber products from Canada is now available on the Commerce Department's ACCESS database. The petition, filed by the Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations, follows the expiration in October of a one-year moratorium on new AD/CV duty requests after the Softwood Lumber Agreement of 2006 expired in October 2015.