Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asked a top executive at Norsk Hydro a few weeks ago when the company would open a primary aluminum smelter.
Customs brokers and importers are still grappling with how to comply with the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives that went into effect just after midnight on March 12 (see 2503120054).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Feb. 10-16, Feb. 17-23, Feb. 24 - March 2 and March 3-9:
Two Section 232 investigations launched March 10 by the Commerce Department -- one on copper, the other on lumber -- serve as harbingers of potentially more trade activity to come, attorneys with the law firm Pillsbury said during a webinar on "DC Disrupted: Upcoming Tariffs & Trade Actions," said after notices seeking comments on the investigations had been posted.
CBP has prepared a list of Frequently Asked Questions on duties on goods made in China and Hong Kong that were recently implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The FAQs are on CBP's website, and they address issues such as calculating duties for goods that have been excluded from Section 301 duties, the conditions under which brokers may file goods using informal entry, and which goods qualify for exemptions, as defined by HTS headings, among other things.
Given that more than half of imports from Canada and Mexico don't claim USMCA preferences, trade lawyers and customs experts are expecting a sharp and rapid increase in entries that claim the preference.
Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, criticized President Donald Trump's executive actions, predecessor Joe Biden's rulemaking and a past bill that moved through Ways and Means that aimed to curtail de minimis in various ways. She called them all "half-measures or simply playing Whac-A-Mole with specific countries."
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.
Going from zero tariffs on most Canadian and Mexican imports to 25% convulsed Capitol Hill and foreign capitals, with some Republicans diverging from the president's protectionist message and Democrats universally using the action to attack Trump as the reason prices will go up.
WilmerHale International Trade Practice leader David Ross told panelists on a discussion of reciprocal trade that, "contrary to some earlier expectations, there are indications that the president is not planning to do a line-by-line" tariff adjustment to match tariff levels of trading partners, but, rather, to seek to quantify the costs of higher tariffs and other policies he sees as trade barriers, and to put a single tariff rate on the country's products.