The Senate Finance Committee's chairman and ranking member said it's time to turn their attention to customs modernization, with both saying any bill will need to both enhance enforcement and make legitimate trade move faster and with more certainty.
A new set of recommendations previewed by a member of the Federal Maritime Commission this week could help carriers, ports, railroads and others better harmonize supply chain data and information sharing. Commissioner Carl Bentzel, speaking during a Feb. 15 Commerce Department advisory committee meeting, said he hopes to know this summer whether the FMC plans to move forward with a formal rulemaking.
CBP is opening up its Section 321 data pilot beyond the initial nine participants, and extending the pilot an additional two years, until August 2025, the agency said in a notice released Feb. 15. CBP also will allow submission of new, optional data elements as part of the pilot.
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill didn't happen last year because Democrats pushed "social policy and environmental policy in MTB and GSP."
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Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Environment and Natural Resources Kelly Milton said that the discussions to create a common understanding between the U.S. and the EU on steel and aluminum not only have to define what green steel is or green aluminum is -- they also have to agree on how to block metals from their markets that were produced from non-market principles.
Pillows made of Chinese fabric, but constructed in Mexico, are considered Chinese-origin for tariff purposes and subject to Section 301 measures, CBP headquarters said in a recently released ruling.
Meyer Corp.'s imports of cookware do not qualify for first-sale treatment, the Court of International Trade held in a Feb. 9 opinion. After ruling against Meyer's bid for a retrial in the opinion, Judge Thomas Aquilino said that, because the court doesn't know the extent to which parent company Meyer Holdings had the ability to influence the price paid for the goods sold between affiliates, due to the company's failure to submit its financial information, the use of first sale was not supported.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a new safety standard for button cell and coin batteries, including consumer products that are meant to contain them. Under the new standard, the button cell and coin batteries, as well as consumer products that are sold with them and those that are not but are designed to use them, must comply with new labeling and performance requirements. Comments on the proposed rule are due March 13.
The head of the Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee said that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program never should have lapsed for two years, and he believes there's interest among House Democrats and Republicans "to get this done in a direct fashion that is timely and useful."