House Republican conservatives want to end Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and have introduced a bill that urges the U.S. trade representative to negotiate free trade agreements with Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the U.K. so that importers can have alternatives to Chinese suppliers at a lower cost.
Josh Kagan, former assistant U.S. trade representative for labor affairs, has joined Kelley Drye as a special counsel in the international trade practice group, the firm announced. At USTR, Kagan worked on adopting and enforcing "internationally recognized labor rights," along with the "negotiation and implementation of labor provisions included in bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements."
COSCO Shipping Lines charged unfair detention and unfair chassis, storage, stop-off and redelivery fees, Access One Transport said in a complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission on March 1. The California-based motor carrier said that COSCO violated the Shipping Act by charging unfair fees when the containers couldn't be returned due to lack of appointments, dual transactions and specific actions by COSCO's and its terminals.
Three domestic manufacturers filed a petition Feb. 28 asking the International Trade Commission to conduct a Section 201 safeguard investigation on imports of polyester staple fiber.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the March 1 Federal Register on the following AD/CVD injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register March 1 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 made preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations that imports of mattresses from Bosnia and Herzegovina (A-893-002), Bulgaria (A-487-001), Myanmar (formerly Burma) (A-546-001), India (A-533-919), Italy (A-475-845), Kosovo (A-803-001), Mexico (A-201-859), the Philippines (A-565-804), Poland (A-455-807), Slovenia (A-856-002), Spain (A-469-826), and Taiwan (A-583-873). The agency will suspend liquidation and impose AD duty cash requirements on entries of subject merchandise from Bulgaria, India, Kosovo, Mexico, Poland, Slovenia and Spain beginning March 1, when these preliminary determinations were published. Suspension of liquidation and AD duty cash deposit requirements take retroactive effect for Bosnia, Myanmar, Italy, Taiwan and the Philippines beginning Dec. 2, 2023.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls Feb. 29:
On Feb. 29, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Feb. 29 that Special Import Quota #20 for upland cotton will be established March 7, allowing importation of 6,540,756 kilograms (30,041 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than June 4, 2024, and entered into the U.S. by Sept. 2, 2024. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the October through December 2023 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.