U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signaled that the Trump administration is preparing a broad overhaul of key parts of the USMCA, focusing on changing non-automobile rules of origin to incentivize U.S. production.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted 37-3 to recommend a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act through the end of 2028, with retroactive benefits since the program expired Sept. 30 (see 2512090051). Requests for liquidation or reliquidation would have to be filed within 180 days of enactment of the law, and CBP would have to pay within 90 days. No interest would be offered on the tariff refunds.
CBP improperly denied importer Software Brokers of America, doing business as Intcomex, the temporary exclusion from International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs on China for in-transit merchandise, the importer argued in a Dec. 5 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Software Brokers of America d/b/a Intcomex v. United States, CIT # 25-00381).
CBP on Dec. 4 created Harmonized System Update 2542 containing 40 Automated Broker Interface records and 13 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. HSU 2542 contains the updates pursuant to the United States-Korea Strategic Trade and Investment Deal; the updates pursuant to the Section 301 product exclusion extensions notice; and an HTS flagging change in support of the partner government agency message set: the FDA tariff flag FD2 was changed to FD1 for HTS 2941.10.2000 Penicillin G salts.
CBP recently created Harmonized System Update 2541 containing seven Automated Broker Interface records and three Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. HSU 2541 contains the updates pursuant to the recent Brazil IEEPA reciprocal executive order and the updates pursuant to the China IEEPA reciprocal executive order. The tariffs were issued by the president under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Goods entered using a Chapter 98 provision that avoids International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs must still list the otherwise applicable IEEPA Chapter 99 classification on the entry, CBP said in a Dec. 5 update to its FAQ on IEEPA tariffs. Otherwise, ACE will reject the submission, the agency said.
The Court of International Trade erred in ruling that importer Blue Sky The Color of Imagination's planning calendars are diaries under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Dec. 4. Judges Alan Lourie, William Bryson and Raymond Chen said the trade court violated the principle of stare decisis by skirting the CAFC's prior interpretation of the term "diary."
Reductions of reciprocal tariffs on South Korea, as well as of Section 232 tariffs on South Korean lumber, will take retroactive effect Nov. 14 under a recently agreed trade deal, according to a notice released Dec. 3 by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department.
Most tariff cuts under the recent U.S.-South Korea trade deal will take retroactive effect Nov. 14, with tariff cuts for autos and auto parts coming earlier on Nov. 1, as expected, said the U.S. Trade Representative in a notice released Dec. 3.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will likely approve nearly all newly submitted requests for inclusions of new tariff subheadings under 50% Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, according to a Nov. 30 blog post by trade lawyer Paul Fudacz.