The Treasury Department made a range of updates to its Cuba sanctions regulations this week, including one change that will allow U.S. banks to open accounts for certain Cuban nationals and authorize payments to those Cuban nationals for imports to the U.S. of certain goods and services.
The U.S. has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Volkswagen de México, S.A. de C.V. facility in Cuautlancingo, Puebla, are being denied their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced May 28.
The Government Accountability Office told Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, that Congress can't vote to overturn the Japan critical minerals agreement.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of May 13-19 and May 20-26:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website May 24, 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:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The country of origin of a Whirlpool food waste disposer is Mexico and Section 301 duties don't apply, CBP said in a customs ruling dated May 15. The agency found that, despite the motor in the garbage disposal being of Chinese origin, the manufacturing process in Mexico substantially transformed the original components into subassemblies, which were then combined to make the final food disposer.
Africa Bell was sworn in as the new port director for the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport on May 23. CBP said in a May 24 news release. The agency said Bell will oversee the international cargo and cruise ship operations and agricultural compliance. She previously directed CBP's Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise in Chicago.
The Aluminum Association, in its weekly newsletter emailed May 24, said it had expected aluminum products that aren't subject to any Section 301 tariffs to be included in a new 25% tariff, but only 31 HTS codes will be covered (see 2405220072).