The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will be adjusting user fee rates for the costs of providing veterinary diagnostic goods and services and veterinary services for imports and exports of live animals and animal products. The new user fee rates go into effect Jan. 10, APHIS said in a Federal Register notice.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices on Jan. 8:
Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., who joined the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee in 2021, is the new ranking member, following Rep. Earl Blumenauer's retirement.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Jan. 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:
CBP issued a proposed rule this week that could mandate the submission of more detailed electronic export manifest (EEM) data for cargo leaving the U.S. by rail, identify which parties should be submitting that electronic information, and set timelines for how soon that information would need to be submitted before the cargo leaves the country.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said his trade priorities for the next two years are supporting the negotiation of comprehensive free trade deals that expand market access for American producers, supporting the negotiation of digital trade rules and intellectual property protections, and reauthorizing key trade programs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 8 heard oral argument in the massive Section 301 litigation, primarily probing the litigants' positions regarding how to interpret the term "modify" in the statute and whether the statute allows the U.S. trade representative to impose duties in response to retaliatory measures from China (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
Hal Brands, a Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies professor and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was appointed to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the commission announced Jan. 7. The term ends Dec. 31, 2026. Brands was chosen by former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Department of Homeland Security has released its "Playbook for Public Sector Generative Artificial Intelligence Deployment," which details at a high level how DHS is looking at AI via pilot programs. One pilot via Homeland Security Investigations is testing AI's ability in investigative processing. If the pilot is successful and deployed, it could "lead to increased detection of fentanyl-related networks," as well as aid in the prevention of child exploitation crimes, DHS said.