President Joe Biden, at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, called the language on critical mineral sourcing in the Inflation Reduction Act a glitch, and said the U.S. can tweak the IRA in ways "that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate, and/or be on their own."

CBP announced it will formally begin its long-planned pilot program to test use of global business identifiers to replace the manufacturer identification code (MID) on entry documentation. The Global Business Identifier Evaluative Proof of Concept (GBI EPoC) will begin Dec. 19, and CBP will begin accepting requests from customs brokers and importers to participate in the pilot on Dec. 2, the agency said in a notice.

After a vote to add sick leave days to the railroad workers' contract garnered a majority, but didn't reach the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate, the Senate voted 81-15 to impose the previously negotiated contract on the 12 railroad unions. Four of those unions, including the largest one, had been threatening a strike on Dec. 9, which would have disrupted 40% of cargo transport. The other unions would have honored the picket lines.

Returned and remanufactured engine parts should be appraised under the fallback method using the sales price of the remanufactured good, with a deduction for the average cost of repair, CBP said in a ruling dated Sept. 29 and released recently.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a conference that Canada had to talk the U.S. out of structuring its Inflation Reduction Act electric vehicle incentives so that they were tied solely to U.S. production.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would impose the contract that eight rail unions approved but four rejected, a contract that protects health insurance benefits and increases pay 24% across four years, with more than half of those pay increases applied retroactively, since the last contract expired in mid-2020.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The House this week will look to impose a labor deal on the rail industry in a bid to avoid a looming strike that could cause widespread disruptions to supply chains. The effort, announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, came hours after President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to adopt the tentative agreement between labor unions and rail companies from September (see 2209150012) “without any modifications or delay” to “avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is finalizing the addition of window covering cords that don't meet certain requirements of the relevant industry standard to its substantial product hazard list. Under CPSC's final rule, stock and custom window coverings that do not meet industry standards for operating cord length, inner cord size and labeling will be subject to refusal of admission, and importers and manufacturers that import hazardous window coverings will be subject to CPSC corrective action plans and penalties. The final rule takes effect Dec. 28.

The Court of International Trade on Nov. 28 blocked imports of certain fish taken from New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries. In an opinion that cited renowned conservationist Rachel Carson, Judge Gary Katzmann found plaintiffs are likely to succeed in arguing two claims in the case seeking a Marine Mammal Protection Act ban on imports of fish and fishery products from New Zealand and caught using techniques that have caused the near extinction of the Maui dolphin, warranting the injunction. The injunction covers snapper, tarakihi, spotted dogfish, trevally, warehou, hoki, barracouta, mullet and gurnard from the New Zealand set-net and trawl fisheries.