As USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service creates a $50 million pilot program aimed at bolstering food assistance programming and the supply of non-traditional, shelf-stable commodities, it's seeking public comments on some of the factors that would go into creating the pilot program, including known challenges and barriers around imports, the current production capacity in the U.S. and seasonality and availability of certain commodities for export, and the estimated cost of delivery of commodities to a U.S. port.
USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced July 12 that Special Import Quota #13 for upland cotton will be established July 18, allowing importation of 9,174,450 kilograms (42,137 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Oct. 15, 2024, and entered into the U.S. by Jan. 13, 2025. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the March through May 2024 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing multiple clarifying amendments to the Paper and Paper-Based Packaging Promotion, Research and Information Order, a program that collects fees from importers to promote paper-based packaging. Among the proposed amendments is revising the definition of importer, which would be changed to "further clarify that importers are persons who import paper and paper-based packaging from outside the United States, that is subsequently released from custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs) and introduced into the stream of commerce into the United States," AMS said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website July 11, 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 created Harmonized System Update 2410 on July 11, containing 52 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 15 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. The update includes the "latest Section 232 Mexico Aluminum and Steel updates and adjustments required by the verification of the 2024 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)."
Canada's half-hearted attempts to comply with dairy tariff rate quotas and the refusal of the U.S. to comply with the auto rules of origin ruling are undermining the USMCA and could make its review more painful, panelists from Canada and Mexico said this week.
Certain Lexmark printers no longer are subject to antidumping or countervailing duties on printers from China after the company changed its production process and proved the printers are substantially transformed in Mexico, CBP said in a recent ruling.
President Joe Biden plans to nominate Carl Bentzel and Louis Sola to continue serving on the Federal Maritime Commission, the White House announced July 11. Both have been FMC members since 2019. Commissioners serve five-year terms.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the July 11 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):