CBP added on June 4 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published May 28 (see 2005220020). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.48. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, a House Ways and Means Committee member who also leads on trade in the New Democrats, said she's worried that the participation of “so many countries” at the World Trade Organization in e-commerce talks -- including China -- will mean that the result will not be a high-standard agreement.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on June 10. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:
Aluminum waste recovered from a manufacturing process in a foreign-trade zone is not subject to Section 232 tariffs or to antidumping and countervailing duties upon entry, CBP said in a May 8 ruling. Shannon Fura, a lawyer with Page Fura, sought CBP's ruling on behalf of the U.S. Granules Corp. (USGC). The company buys aluminum scrap and waste from suppliers that generate recoverable aluminum from manufacturing operations within an FTZ, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 1-5 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced a new round of Section 301 tariff exclusions (see 2006090003). New subheading 9903.88.49 will be used for the new exclusions. The new set of exclusions are reflected in “two 10-digit [Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)] subheadings and 32 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 55 separate exclusion requests,” according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "two ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 32 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 55 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.
Sharply reduced April imports of the largest TVs were the result of COVID-19 factory shutdowns in Mexico, where the supply chain for big-screen sets predominantly resides, according to newly released Census Bureau data accessed June 6 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the closure of nonessential factories and businesses on March 31.
While the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 gives the president clear authority to terminate Hong Kong's special status if China violates the island's autonomy, the fact that Hong Kong has its own membership in the World Trade Organization could complicate the matter, the Congressional Research Service says. In a June 5 “legal sidebar,” CRS said that not only is it not clear when the administration would end Hong Kong's special trade status, it's also not clear whether the U.S. would say it no longer acknowledges Hong Kong's membership in the WTO.
The International Trade Commission on June 4 issued Revision 12 to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. This latest edition implements a June 2 notice from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that extends some exclusions from list 1 Section 301 tariffs on products from China (see 2005290020). The extended exclusions are listed in new U.S. Note 20(ccc) to Chapter 99 in the tariff schedule, and goods entered under these exclusions are classifiable under new subheading 9903.88.0050.