CBP added on Nov. 13 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. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1911080003) should report the regular Chapters 39, 42, 44, 48, 50, 54, 60, 73, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 90 and 94 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.34, CBP said in the message. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when” subheading 9903.88.34 is submitted, CBP said.
The trade war that President Donald Trump began with China 16 months ago is creating pain for businesses, but there's a deeper strategic mistake to consider, said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Goodman, who was speaking during the first session in a Congressional Trade Series on Nov. 19, said, “I still don't know what the basic strategic goal is here." He said he didn't know whether the administration wants to get structural changes to China's economy, as it claims, or whether it wants to reduce the bilateral trade deficit, or to contain China's rise.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 12-15 in case they were missed.
Importers of goods from the European Union need to be particularly careful about the complicated web of country coverage and exceptions under Section 301 tariffs that began in October, according to KPMG trade consultants speaking during a webinar on Nov. 19. The structure of the new tariffs creates opportunities for duty savings in the form of tariff engineering, shifting supply chains and taking advantage of narrow carve-outs.
The nominee for Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden would need to review the specifics of a case that involves Section 301 tariffs before deciding whether a recusal is necessary, he said during a Nov. 13 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Vaden, who is general counsel at the Department of Agriculture and a member of the board of the Commodity Credit Corporation, said that he was involved in some discussion of the Section 301 tariffs as they related to aid given to farmers. Asked by ranking member Dianne Feinstein of California whether those discussions might result in a recusal in cases involving the tariffs, Vaden said he would follow the judicial standards for making the decision. “I would need to take a look at the parties that were before me, the issues that they were bringing, consult the law and also potentially consult my fellow judges before making a decision on a case by case basis regarding recusal," he said.
CBP has assessed about $46.4 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Nov. 13, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $36.8 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China and $34.7 million duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from the EU (see 1910020044). CBP also has assessed about $6.4 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $1.8 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells (see 1801230052), imposed Jan. 23, 2018, account for $1.2 billion in assessed tariffs.
Mattress bases largely sourced from China but assembled in Vietnam undergo a substantial transformation and are not subject to the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, CBP said in an Oct. 30 ruling. The ruling, NY N306524, came in response to a request from lawyer George Tuttle on behalf of Ergomotion. The company asked CBP to confirm that the mattress bases are “country of origin Vietnam, and not subject to China Section 301 duties," CBP said.
CBP added on Nov. 7 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. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1910240004) should report the regular Chapters 29, 32, 37, 39, 40, 48, 51, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 68, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 90 and 94 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.33, CBP said in the message. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when" subheading 9903.88.33 is submitted, CBP said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 4-8 in case they were missed.
A new Port of Los Angeles report bears out predictions the port made when the first Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods were announced 20 months ago that the duties would raise consumer prices and cause other economic harm, Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director, told a media briefing on Nov. 12. The study found that “on an annual basis, on the goods moving through our port complex, an additional $31 billion to $35 billion U.S. dollars is attached to what you and I spend at the store,” Seroka said.