A domestic producer filed a petition Nov. 15 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber from the Czech Republic, Italy and Russia. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD duty investigations. The investigation was requested by Lion Elastomers.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Congress should direct CBP to impose "a region-wide Withhold Release Order on products originating from Xinjiang, China," the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said within a group of 32 recommendations for lawmakers. Congress should also require the Department of Homeland Security "to provide a comprehensive list of technologies needed and an outline of the resources required to enforce the Withhold Release Order and address other instances of China’s use of forced labor." it said in the report, released Nov. 17.
An exporter of wind towers that enters into post-importation warranty and repair agreements with its customers, but does not hold title or risk of loss when the goods are imported, doesn't have a sufficient financial interest in the wind towers to make entry under the customs laws, CBP said in ruling HQ H312266, dated Oct. 29.
Mobile home skirting spikes imported by Roy G. Evans Co. are subject to antidumping duties on steel nails from China (A-570-909), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling issued Nov. 5. Though Roy G. Evans, which does business as EVCO, argued that the spikes are imported under a tariff subheading not listed in the scope of the order, Commerce noted that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers in the scope are not exhaustive, and that the merchandise has the physical characteristics of subject nails.
CBP did not violate importer Diamond Tools Technology's due process rights when it found that the company evaded antidumping duties on diamond sawblades from China, the Court of International Trade said in an Oct. 29 opinion, made public Nov. 5. However, Judge Timothy Reif did remand the case to CBP, finding that the actual finding of evasion was not supported as there was no "material and false statement" made by DTT. The judge also upheld CBP's authority to find that DTT's entries that pre-dated the start date of a related anti-circumvention inquiry are "covered merchandise."
The Court of International Trade erred when it took "bypass" liquidations into its consideration of treatment previously afforded importer Kent International's children's bicycle seats, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a Nov. 3 opinion. Remanding the issue to the trade court, a three-judge panel at the Federal Circuit, however, upheld CIT's determination that there was no de facto "established and uniform practice" (EUP) regarding the customs classification of kids' bike seats.
A domestic producer coalition filed a petition on Nov. 2 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on superabsorbent polymers from South Korea. Commerce will now decide whether to begin an AD duty investigation. The investigation was requested by the Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers, which is made up of BASF, Evonik Superabsorber and an anonymous company that appears redacted in the complaint.
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping investigations on oil country tubular goods from Argentina (A-357-824), Mexico (A-201-856) and Russia (A-821-833) and countervailing duty investigations on oil country tubular goods from South Korea (C-580-913) and Russia (C-821-834).
Eleven of the 49 Democratic senators have told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the inputs for manufacturing protective gowns and masks and finished masks and surgical gowns should not continue to receive exclusions to Section 301 duties. The previous administration decided that goods needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic should not face higher tariffs, but these senators, led by Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown and Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, argue that domestic manufacturers need the tariff barrier to be competitive.
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on freight rail coupler systems from China (A-570-143/C-570-144). The CV duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2020. The AD duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1 - June 30, 2021.