House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., speaking at an event about his proposal to remove Chinese exports' eligibility for de minimis, suggested that if the provision does not pass as part of a compromise China package, he's got a Plan B. The language in his bill says that de minimis won't be available to any non-market economy that's on the priority watch list. "Now, coincidentally, that's just China," Blumenauer said with a grin during the Rethink Trade webinar March 9.
Although Democratic leadership in the House agreed to the administration's request to drop legislation to end Russia's permanent normal trade status, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said late March 9: "Our response to this horrific, unprovoked war cannot end here. When Congress returns to Washington next week, we will act decisively, in a bipartisan manner, to suspend permanent normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus.”
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said it will make allies laugh if Congress passes a bill that urges the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to work to convince other countries to remove Russia from their normal tariff schedule offered to World Trade Organization members, given that the U.S. is not doing that.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the author of the trade provisions within the House China package, said that a virtual conference committee has begun discussing a compromise between the House and Senate bills. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is making it harder to find the time to make progress, he said. There has been no public announcement that the chambers weren't going to use a formal conference committee (see 2202020055), or that negotiations had begun.
CBP is working on some new guidance for the withhold release order aimed at silica-based products from Hoshine Silicon Industry in Xinjiang, China (see 2108030026), said Eric Choy, acting executive director of the Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate. Choy and other agency officials spoke on a March 4 webinar that was later posted to the Solar Energy Industries Association website. "We are working through our own administrative procedures here right now to make sure it meets the administrative requirements" to post on the agency's site, he said.
CBP recently ruled that imports of men's suits from an Italian parent company to its related U.S. importer didn't qualify for first sale treatment. In a ruling issued Jan. 4 and released March 7, the agency said that transactions between factory and parent company and between parent company and importer don't qualify as "sales" and that the transaction value between the importer and its U.S. customers should instead be used to value the merchandise. The ruling followed a request for internal advice from the CBP Validation and Compliance Division as to how to correctly appraise the suits.
No new purchases of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas or coal can be made by American parties, starting March 8, the White House said. But, there will be a 45-day wind-down period where deliveries from contracted purchases can enter the U.S., a senior government official said. The Treasury Department issued a general license outlining the details.
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House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said that although the House will vote to endorse the administration's decision to ban oil, natural gas and coal imports from Russia, ending Russia's normal trading status will not be part of the legislation. He said he expects a vote before House Democrats leave for a retreat at noon on March 9.
The leaders of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees agreed on legislation to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus and to ban the import of oil from Russia, they said on March 7.