The Federal Maritime Commission has been encouraging carriers to have a better relationship and more transparency with shippers, FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said during a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on April 30. Maffei said that this issue stems from the lack of transparency surrounding the Red Sea-related surcharges imposed by carriers due to Houthi attacks on commercial ships (see 2401290052).
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 May 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.
CBP has released its May 1 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 17). While it contains recent court decisions, no customs rulings are included.
Greenpeace sent CBP a “request” to impose penalties on Bumble Bee Tuna and other entities that it alleges have continued to import tuna from a fishing vessel subject to a CBP withhold release order, Greenpeace said in a May 1 news release. The request is “being made in line” with 19 U.S.C. 1595a(b), which provides for “a penalty equal to the value” of the imported goods on any person who aids unlawful importation. Greenpeace said it “found a Bumble Bee branded can of tuna containing fish caught by the reportedly blacklisted Da Wang at an Arlington, Virginia supermarket in April 2022.” It said a penalty was imposed on another importer for similar reasons in 2020 (see 2008140016). CBP didn’t immediately comment, nor did Greenpeace when asked for more details on the request.
Representatives from the domestic textiles industry testified at an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hearing May 2 regarding ways to promote supply chain resilience, especially after many were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2404290057).
Canadian Solar, which is ramping up a 5-gigawatt solar panel manufacturing factory in Texas, told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that tariff rate quotas on solar cells under the current safeguard action and Section 301 tariffs on machinery that helps make solar panels and cells are harming solar manufacturers. Canadian Solar also is working on opening a solar cell plant in Indiana, but it won't open until late 2025. It imports cells made in Thailand. The TRQ only allows five gigawatts' worth of tariff-free cells in annually.
In the first third of its first public hearing on promoting supply chain resilience, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and interagency officials heard from groups disputing the premise of the project -- that liberalizing trade was harmful to U.S. workers and manufacturing -- and from those who say the worker-centered trade approach of the Biden administration is not going far enough to restore American manufacturing.
Masud Husain, a Canadian foreign service official, will replace Sheri Meyerhoffer as the new head of the government agency that investigates human rights concerns, including forced labor, in Canadian-linked supply chains, the country announced April 30. Husain will take over “later this year” in an interim role as the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise (CORE), Canada said.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the May 2 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):