The Bureau of Industry and Security has further defined the scope of its upcoming proposed rule restricting imports of certain Chinese connected vehicle parts, Reuters reported this week.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on how China and Russia are complying with their World Trade Organization commitments, including in its import regulation, export regulation, subsidies, non-tariff barriers, intellectual property rights enforcement, rule of law issues, and trade facilitation, or other issues.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments by Sept. 9 on how it should impose Section 201 safeguards on imports of polyester staple fiber, after the International Trade Commission in July found imports of the product are injuring U.S. industry. USTR said it may recommend tariffs or a tariff rate quota, export quota agreements, import licensing or other actions as part of the potential safeguard. Responses to comments are due Sept. 16. USTR will hold a public hearing Sept. 30, with requests to appear also due Sept. 9.
Ecuador on Aug. 1 hosted the first in-person meeting of trade ministers of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, at which Western Hemisphere countries adopted a “Declaration on Good Practices for Pre-Arrival Processing” and made other trade commitments.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, hosted an event in Brooklyn, Ohio, last week to highlight his efforts to restrict Chinese goods from eligibility for de minimis shipments. The event included representatives of a local textile mill, law enforcement and others. Brown introduced a bill, the Import Security and Fairness Act, in June 2023 that would end China’s de minimis eligibility (see 2306150061). He also has urged the Biden administration to take executive action on the matter (see 2402260076).
Don Church of Texas pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to illegally importing protected Australian reptiles into the U.S. on behalf of a "fake zoo which he represented as legitimate," DOJ announced. Church entered 165 Australian reptiles, all covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, by giving U.S. and Australian authorities false information.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week affirmed the convictions of six companies for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, customs fraud and promotional money laundering. However, the court said the trial court failed to resolve the parties' dispute on the value of the companies' warehouses before finding that they "lacked the ability to pay" the over $1.8 billion judgment and "ordering a nominal payment schedule."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Registration for the Oct. 23 customs broker license exam (CBLE) is opening Aug. 12 at 12:01 a.m. EDT, CBP said in a message. Registration closes Sept. 11 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Aug. 2, 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.