House Could Pass MTB Soon After Labor Day, NCBFAA Lobbyist Says

The House could pass the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill in the first week or so following a return from recess after Labor Day "if they think that they can get it passed and get it through the president to sign," said Jon Kent, a lobbyist for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America with Kent & O'Connor. One potential issue could be inconsistency concerns within the administration over tariff cuts on many goods that come from China as other tariffs are being added under Section 301 and other trade remedies, Kent said.

Still, it's unclear whether there would be real interest to veto an MTB when there's potential for a veto to be overridden, Kent said. The Senate and the House both passed versions of the MTB unanimously, though the House must vote again because the Senate's version differed slightly (see 1807270003). There's been at least one prominent call for a veto of the MTB (see 1808030027). Kent and others spoke during an Aug. 23 webinar hosted by the NCBFAA.

Another major issue for the NCBFAA is the recently proposed drawback regulations under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (see 1808020049). "There are some big differences from the interim guidance, particularly for mixed-use claims," said Dave Corn, vice president of Comstock and Theakston. "There also are some notable differences that came from Treasury," such as for drawback exclusions related to excise taxes, he said. Many comments are expected on the excise tax issue alone, he said. The NCBFAA is working on its comments with the drawback committee, Corn said.

There's been some thought that the prohibition on drawback on Section 232 tariffs for steel and aluminum could be challenged in court (see 1806070025). "We do expect with the 232s that there may be some litigation" on the president's authority to prevent drawback, Corn said, adding that he's not aware of any specific challenge coming. There have been "rumblings" that potential litigants are waiting for a protest request to be denied by CBP in order to bring it to the Court of International Trade, he said. "I think it's just a matter of time."

While there was no specific drawback guidance on the Section 201 trade remedies on solar panels and washing machines, there hasn't been an issue so far for such claims, Corn said. Corn also noted that there's still work to be done on both sides related to an ongoing drawback lawsuit (see 1807300020).