Dishwasher pumps made of parts from China that are assembled in Serbia are considered to be of Serbian origin, CBP said in a Jan. 23 ruling. Due to the Serbian origin of the pumps, Section 301 tariffs on goods from China do not apply, CBP said. The ruling came in response to a request from Thomas Keating, of Rock Trade Law, on behalf of Johnson Electric North America.
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 is in the very early stages of considering whether to expand the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program to foreign-trade zones, said Lydia Jackson, FTZ program manager in the CBP Office of Cargo and Conveyance Security. She spoke Feb. 11 during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones legislative summit. The question has been approached before by CBP, and the agency previously found the problem to be that the FTZ importer is “not always the same entity, etc., etc.,” she said.
The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones appealed to CBP officials during the group's annual legislative summit on Feb. 11 on the issue of CBP's treatment of goods that are in foreign-trade zones and are subject to the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China that will be reduced on Feb. 14. CBP said in a recent CSMS message about the tariff decrease that the applicable tariff rate for goods in FTZs is based on “the rate of duty and tax in force on the date of filing the application for privileged foreign status.” That policy has prompted some industry claims of inconsistency by the agency (see 2002050038).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 3-7 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative is set to publish a notice Feb. 11 of some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the first list of products from China (see 2002100008). The product exclusions 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.
CBP's notice on the coming Section 301 tariff decrease (see 2002040045) and the agency's treatment of List 4A goods in foreign-trade zones are drawing some industry concerns. The CBP notice said the duty rate for goods subject to the tariffs in FTZs is based on “the rate of duty and tax in force on the date of filing the application for privileged foreign status.” CBP's interpretation “is inconsistent with existing CBP precedent and [we] will be challenging it on behalf of our a number of clients,” said Sidley lawyer Ted Murphy in a blog post.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 27-31 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative is set to publish a notice Feb. 5 some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China (see 2001020013). 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.
The coming expansion of Section 232 tariffs to finished steel and aluminum goods will not apply to immediate transportation entries that are accepted before Feb. 8, CBP said in a Feb. 4 CSMS message. The message gives guidance for filers affected by the new 10 percent tariffs on some finished aluminum goods and 25 percent tariffs on some finished steel goods that start on Feb. 8 (see 2001280072). Eligible immediate transportation entries “shall be subject to the duty rates in effect when the immediate transportation entry was accepted at the port of original importation,” the agency said. CBP used a similar policy when the previous Section 232 tariffs took effect (see 1804050027).
Plug-in devices that connect to Wi-Fi and allow for users to operate other devices by controlling whether electrical current flows from the wall outlet differ from wearable smart devices for classification purposes, CBP said in a Jan. 21 ruling. Lawyers from Sharretts Paley requested the ruling on behalf of SDI Technologies. SDI argued that the “SmartPlugs” deserve a similar classification as Fitbit fitness trackers that connect to mobile phones through Bluetooth (see 1707190028).