Tim Warren

The Office of the U.S Trade Representative issued some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China, according to a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to the agency’s website May 4 (see 2005050002). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020. New subheading 9903.88.46 will be used for these products.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will begin a Section 232 investigation into whether U.S. imports of “laminations for stacked cores for incorporation into transformers, stacked and wound cores for incorporation into transformers, electrical transformers, and transformer regulators” threaten national security, the Commerce Department said in a May 4 news release. Commerce received “inquiries and requests from multiple members of Congress as well as industry stakeholders,” it said. The Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct the investigation and request comments in a coming notice, it said.

CBP added on April 30 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 on April 24 (see 2004230010). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.45. 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, and will expire after 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.

CBP has stopped its validations of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CTPAT Director Manuel Garza said in a May 1 post on the CBP website. “While 2020 validations have currently ceased due to COVID-19, CTPAT is working diligently to explore alternative options that will ensure the continuity and security of the validation process,” Garza said. CBP recently said it wouldn't be delaying dates around implementation of the updated Minimum Security Criteria, but it will allow for more discretion in the validations (see 2004160022).

CBP issued a withhold release order for imported hair products “manufactured by Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. Ltd. (Haolin), who operate in the Xinjiang region of China,” CBP said in a news release. The WRO was issued due to suspicions of forced labor use and is effective as of May 1, CBP said. The use of forced labor in the Xinjiang region has gotten new attention from lawmakers in recent months (see 2003180037).

CBP is not currently planning to extend the 90-day customs duty deferral option beyond April, a CBP official said during an April 30 conference call. CBP lacks the authority to grant additional days for payment of duties, taxes and fees and the agency hasn't received instructions from the White House to indicate an extension of the program, she said. President Donald Trump authorized the Treasury Department to defer collections of customs duties during the COVID-19 national emergency (see 2004200024)

The Federal Maritime Commission will adopt a final rule to give industry guidance on how it assesses the “reasonableness” of detention and demurrage charges, the agency said on April 28. The rule has garnered new attention due to charges caused by COVID-19-related shipping delays (see 2003190041) and is meant to give industry clarity on how FMC will consider whether detention and demurrage policies incentivize the movement of cargo or whether they are unjustified. The rule will become effective upon its publication in the Federal Register.

The Department of Justice on April 17 filed an appeal of the Court of International Trade's decision that struck down CBP regulations to prohibit drawback claims for excise taxes. The appeal, which was docketed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 24, seeks to restore the agency's ban on substitution drawback on products that must pay excise taxes, such as alcohol and petroleum. The regulations deemed exportation without payment of excise taxes to be a form of drawback, and limited the amount of drawback to the amount of taxes paid (and not previously refunded) on the export that forms the basis for the drawback claim.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 20-24 in case they were missed.

Drawback filers have a new option for drawback claims involving manufacturing component parts, CBP said in a general ruling that was included in the April 22 Customs Bulletin. The ruling follows broad changes to drawback included in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, CBP said. The agency said it recently received an industry request to remove some pre-TFTEA requirements included in the General Manufacturing Drawback Ruling from 1981.