The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls March 7:
USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced March 7 that Special Import Quota #21 for upland cotton will be established March 14, allowing importation of 6,526,283 kilograms (29,975 bales) of upland cotton, down from 6,540,756 kilograms (30,041 bales) in the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than June 11, 2024, and entered into the U.S. by Sept. 9, 2024. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the November 2023 through January 2024 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website March 7, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
CBP found substantial evidence that Minth Mexico Coatings (MMC) evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders covering aluminum extrusions from China. CBP, in an Enforce and Protect Act notice of determination dated Feb. 27, said that MMC imported the aluminum extrusions from Chinese suppliers and transshipped them through Mexico, failing to declare the automotive parts as subject to the AD/CVD orders.
House Ways and Means Subcommitee Chair Mike Kelly, R-Pa., warned that the committee would not "stand by idly and watch the Biden administration and Treasury Department sacrifice American tax dollars for political gain." Kelly, who was holding a hearing this week on the implications of international negotiations on extra-territorial taxes, including digital services taxes, said the draft deal at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will disadvantage U.S. firms.
Shippers continued to press the Federal Maritime Commission on why it allowed carriers to bill Red Sea-related surcharges without a 30-day notice, saying during a March 6 meeting of the National Shipping Advisory Committee that carriers failed to justify those charges.
Customs brokers have been pushing for a change to U.S. bankruptcy law for decades to make it so pass-through payments to CBP for tariffs are not subject to clawback after a client goes bankrupt. With a package of funding bills the Senate passed March 8, brokers got a permanent change to the law.
FedEx rejected Prosperous America CEO Michael Stumo's characterization of the company as being involved in drug trafficking. Stumo on March 6 accused both FedEx and UPS of being "drug mules" (see 2403060089), because they are conduits for fentanyl entering in the de minimis environment. The company "has extensive security measures in place to deter and detect the use of our networks for illegal purposes, and we have a long history of close collaboration with law enforcement and regulatory authorities to quickly identify and prevent unlawful uses of our networks," a FedEx spokesperson said. "This includes illegal shipments such as illicit fentanyl."
More action is needed to protect commercial cargo ships from attacks by Houthi rebels, shipping industry groups said after sailors aboard a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden died this week from a Houthi missile strike.