Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would like to get a removal of the tariff on titanium sponge attached to the must-pass Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill. There is a 15% tariff on titanium sponge. Timet, a Nevada company, once tried to get quotas applied to titanium sponge imports through a Section 232 action (see 2002280047) and also had a failed trade remedy case; it no longer makes titanium sponge.
Former Sen. Chris Dodd, special presidential adviser for the Americas, said that the administration welcomes the Americas Act (see 2403060033), a bill that proposes setting country-by-country de minimis levels, and instructs the administration to reconsider U.S. tariffs "with the focus on the principle of reciprocity" for most favored nation rates and to open a dialogue with Mexico and Canada on allowing Costa Rica and Uruguay to join USMCA. It also would exclude Chinese and Russian shippers from de minimis eligibility, allow Ecuador and Uruguay to use Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act tariff benefits for certain goods, "with the goal of an eventual full-scale FTA with Uruguay and Ecuador," and asks the administration to make it so goods across Western hemisphere free trade agreements could cumulate among those agreements -- so Costa Rican content could be added to Colombian and Mexican content, for instance.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website May 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 issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Shein, an apparel e-commerce platform that has been in the crosshairs of the House Select Committee on China (see 2305030077) U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see 2304140034), is ramping up its staffing for compliance, according to a memo sent to International Trade Today by a person close to Shein.
The Department of Energy is amending its energy efficiency standards for miscellaneous refrigeration products beginning in January 2029, it said in a direct final rule published May 7.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 7 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department has published the preliminary results of a countervailing duty administrative review of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China (C-570-017). This review covers subject merchandise from the exporters under review entered during the period Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022.
Antidumping duty suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements took effect May 7 for imports of aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-158), Colombia (A-301-806), Ecuador (A-331-804), India (A-533-920), Indonesia (A-560-840), Italy (A-475-846), Malaysia (A-557-826), Mexico (A-201-860), South Korea (A-580-918), Taiwan (A-583-874), Thailand (A-549-847), Turkey (A-489-850), the United Arab Emirates (A-520-810) and Vietnam (A-552-837), after the Commerce Department on that date published its preliminary affirmative determinations that they are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
When the Commerce Department published the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on multilayered wood flooring from China (A-570-970) on May 1, it left two companies off the list of those determined to have no shipments during the Dec. 1, 2021, through Nov. 30, 2022, period of review. Now Commerce is correcting the list of the companies, adding Dongtai Fuan Universal Dynamics, LLC and Pinge Timber Manufacturing (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., and bringing the total number of companies on that list to 23.