New restrictions on travel from the European Union to the U.S. do not apply to cargo, despite President Donald Trump saying they do during a March 11 speech on the COVID-19 response, the White House said after the speech. The proclamation for the travel restrictions “only applies to the movement of human beings, not goods or cargo,” the White House said in a fact sheet. During his remarks, Trump said “these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval.”
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
CBP will adopt its proposal to limit the Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rulings involving locking pliers (see 2003050024), effective March 11, the agency said in a notice in the March 11 Customs Bulletin. While CBP said it will limit the decisions as proposed, it did address some concerns raised by two tool companies. Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation and the Apex Tool Group filed the only comments on the proposal and both said CBP needed to provide more specifics (see 2003050024).
CBP added on March 10 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the fourth tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The exclusions cover various medical supplies. “In addition to reporting the regular Chapters 34, 39, 40, 48, 62 and 63 classifications of the HTSUS for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the HTSUS classification 9903.88.39,” CBP said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently added eight new exclusions from 4A tranche of goods (see 2003060042). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 2-6 in case they were missed.
CBP and the Justice Department are still considering whether to file an appeal of a Court of International Trade ruling against CBP regulations to prevent excise tax drawback (see 2002270062), said Alexandra Khrebtukova, a lawyer at CBP. “That decision is not yet final” because the appeals period has not yet completed, she said. An appeal would need to be filed by April 20 and “the United States is evaluating whether to file its appeal,” she said. Khrebtukova, who spoke as part of a March 6 panel at the Georgetown University Law Center International Trade Update conference, said she was speaking on her own behalf and not for CBP or the government.
CBP won't hold the 2020 Trade Symposium March 10-11, the agency said on March 4. “Given the number of cancellations received by trade partners and attendees and the more than two-dozen company travel restrictions that would impact the number of those able to participate, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2020 Trade Symposium,” it said on its website. “The intent of the symposium is to educate and update the attendees on CBP’s trade priorities. We believe that postponing the event to maximize attendance is the most beneficial course of action at this time.” CBP plans to process registration fee refunds shortly, it said.
CBP needs to provide more information about the intended reach of the agency's proposal to limit Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rulings involving locking pliers (see 1911190036), two tool companies said in comments filed in opposition to the proposal. The comments, submitted in December by lawyers for the Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation and the Apex Tool Group, were provided by CBP in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Both companies said they filed protests with CBP on similar merchandise. The comments were due to CBP by Dec. 20.
CBP found “success and value” from its recent “proof of concept” that looked at the use of blockchain to track intellectual property license information, said Vincent Annunziato, director of CBP’s business transformation office, in an agency report on the test. This test, which was the second POC so far (see 1910080034), involved an increase in complexity over the previous POC, the report said. “The Business Transformation and Innovation Division (BTID) recommends moving forward with maturing these tests as we take on the mission of re-engineering the supply chain in a 21st century world,” he said.
CBP added on Feb. 25 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the first tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently added four new exclusions from the first tranche of goods and updated Harmonized Tariff Schedule classifications from that tranche that expired (see 2002100014). The product exclusions and amendments apply retroactively to July 6, 2018, the date the tariffs on the first list took effect, and will remain in effect until Oct. 2, 2020.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 24-28 in case they were missed.