A recently announced reduction in quotas on Brazilian semi-finished steel results in a reduction in the annual quota amount of about 10%, according to an annex, released Sept. 1, to the president’s earlier proclamation. Originally implemented as part of a deal with Brazil for the country to avoid Section 232 steel tariffs, the adjustment for decreased U.S. steel demand causes the quota for subheading 9903.80.57, which covers steel blooms, billets and slabs, semi-finished, to fall on an annual basis to 3,155,137,048 kg, down 350,570,783 kg from the original deal. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said that, in terms of remaining quota amounts for the year, the reduction amounts to a decline from 350,000 metric tons (350,000,000 kg) to 60,000 metric tons (60,000,000 kg) (see 2008310010). The annex also implements in new subheading 9903.80.62 an exemption from the decreased quota amounts for covered products already contracted for purchase, provided that the decrease would result in a disruption, among other conditions.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
FDA is moving forward with a pilot program to test the use of artificial intelligence in its import screening, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Aug. 31 in a blog post on the agency’s website. FDA has successfully completed its first phase proof of concept that it began in spring 2019 (see 1903220030) to test AI machine learning technologies in import screening for seafood, and is now working to begin a second phase to test the concept in the field.
More than half of all exclusions from list four Section 301 China tariffs are set to expire Sept. 1, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to extend them in the run-up to their expiration. USTR granted extensions to 87 of the more than 200 list four exclusions published to date.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 28 upheld several lower court rulings that found masonry anchors are not subject to antidumping duties on steel nails from China and Vietnam. Affirming three Court of International Trade decisions issued in 2018 (see 1805290053, 1809240016 and 1810020020), the appeals court held that anchors imported by OMG, Simpson Strong-Tie and Midwest Fastener do not function as nails, and so aren’t covered by the scope language in the AD duty orders.
Door thresholds assembled from aluminum extrusions and non-aluminum components are not always subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China, the Court of International Trade said in an Aug. 27 decision. Reversing positions taken by Commerce in a scope ruling issued in late 2018 (see 1901150033), the trade court found mentions of door thresholds in the scope as subject merchandise only refer to whole aluminum extrusions used as thresholds, and not assemblies containing extruded aluminum.
The Environmental Protection Agency is removing the Toxic Substances Control Act significant new use rule (SNUR) on one chemical substance, alpha 1-, 3-polysaccharide, which was the subject of a premanufacture notice. EPA’s final rule, which takes effect Sept. 24, removes new use notification requirements. The revocation is “based on new test data for the chemical substance,” the agency said.
Light-emitting diode tail lights for trucks are classifiable as lighting equipment for motor vehicles under heading 8512, and not as LED lamps of heading 8539, CBP said in a ruling issued months ago but not publicly released on the Customs Rulings Online Search System until Aug. 11. The reference to “lamps” in heading 8539 refers to what would be called bulbs in the U.S., so the tail light assemblies are beyond that heading's scope, CBP said in HQ H301947, issued in January.
CBP has collected its first penalty for imports produced with forced labor, the agency said in a news release. Pure Circle U.S.A. paid $575,000 for importing stevia processed in China using prison labor. The action stems from an investigation into Chinese stevia produced by Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agricultural and Trade LLC that resulted in a withhold release order in May 2016 (see 1605310019).
Cheeses from Greece and sweet biscuits from the United Kingdom will no longer be subject to Section 301 tariffs on products from the European Union beginning Sept. 1, while a range of fruit jams and purees from France and Germany will be newly covered by the tariffs on that date, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice released late Aug. 12.
The Commerce Department is proposing an overhaul of its regulations on antidumping and countervailing duties “to strengthen the administration of enforcement of AD/CVD laws, make such administration and enforcement more efficient, and create new enforcement tools for Commerce to address circumvention and evasion of trade remedies,” the agency said in a notice released Aug. 12. One key change would allow Commerce to retroactively suspend liquidation and require AD/CVD cash deposits as a result of scope rulings. Comments are due Sept. 14.