The Commerce Department issued countervailing duty orders on frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador (C-331-806), India (C-533-921) and Vietnam (C-552-838), and an antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from Indonesia (A-560-842). The orders set permanent antidumping and countervailing duties that will remain in place unless revoked by Commerce, which may take place only under certain conditions, such as a sunset or changed circumstances review. Commerce will now begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if requested, to determine final assessments of AD/CV duties on importers and make changes to cash deposit rates.
The Commerce Department soon will suspend liquidation and impose antidumping duty cash deposit requirements on imports of disposable aluminum containers, pans, trays, and lids from China, it said in a fact sheet issued Dec. 20. Commerce set AD rates ranging from 193.9% to 287.8% for Chinese exporters, the agency said as it announced its preliminary determinations in its ongoing AD investigations. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements will take effect for entries on or after the date of publication of the preliminary determinations in the Federal Register, which should occur in the coming days.
On Dec. 20, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts (after not having posted new ones for a number of days) on the detention without physical examination of:
The FDA has issued a final rule that seeks to ensure that the implied nutrient content claim "healthy" is consistent with current nutrition science and federal dietary guidance, particularly the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It revises the requirements for when the term “healthy” can be used as an implied nutrient content claim in the labeling of human food products, the agency said in a Federal Register notice. The rule is effective Feb. 24; the compliance date is Feb. 25, 2028.
A bipartisan, bicameral bill would create a Maritime Security Trust Fund, into which revenues would come from tonnage fees on Chinese-owned and Chinese-flagged ships visiting U.S. ports, special tonnage taxes, light money, and tariffs and duties, including Section 301 tariffs.
President-elect Donald Trump announced his plans to nominate Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden to be deputy secretary of agriculture. Vaden joined the court in 2020 after working in Trump's first administration as USDA's general counsel. Posting the announcement on Truth Social, the president-elect said that at the agency, Vaden "relocated and reorganized the Agencies that comprise the Department to better serve Rural America, and engaged in substantial regulatory reform."
The U.S. charged three international drug traffickers last week with conspiracy to import fentanyl and methamphetamine precursor chemicals and importing a fentanyl precursor chemical, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The indictment brought charges against Xiang Gao, a Chinese national; Oleksandr Klochkov, a Ukrainian national; and Igors Kricfalusijs, a Latvian national.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Dec. 20, 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:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened an investigation into Chinese manufacturing of legacy (or foundational) semiconductors, "including to the extent that they are incorporated as components into downstream products for critical industries like defense, automotive, medical devices, aerospace, telecommunications, and power generation and the electrical grid."