A potential expansion of CBP authority under the Enforce and Protect Act that would apply to malfeasance beyond the evasion of antidumping or countervailing duties will be part of the agency's 21st Century Customs Framework discussion, CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner for International Trade Brenda Smith said during an Oct. 21 conference call with reporters. Smith last year mentioned the possibility of an expanded authority (see 1907240025). Currently, CBP uses the EAPA processes only to investigate AD/CV duty evasion.
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.
There is some industry concern that a proposal to end the de minimis exemption to Section 301 goods isn't considered “economically significant,” an executive following the issue said. CBP submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website (see 2009040026).
Two domestic manufacturers filed a petition Oct. 7 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on thermal paper from Germany, Japan, South Korea and Spain. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD duty investigations on thermal paper. Appvion Operations and Domtar Corp. requested the inquiry.
There is “substantial evidence” MSeafood used evasion to avoid antidumping duties on imported frozen shrimp, CBP said in an Oct. 13 final determination notice released by the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA). MSeafood, a U.S. importer affiliated with Vietnamese shrimp company Minh Phu Seafood, was accused of evading an AD order on frozen shrimp from India through transshipment by the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Enforcement Committee in 2019 (see 2001150041).
A Texas-based pipe importer is suing its customs lawyers for malpractice after their alleged failure to advise it to file protests cost it $6 million, according to a complaint filed Oct. 6 in Southern Texas U.S. District Court. Allied Fitting says Steptoe & Johnson, and more precisely its main point of contact Thomas Trendl and firm customs lead Gregory McCue, did not tell the importer that it had to protest the reliquidation of some of its entries that the Commerce Department had preliminarily found subject to AD duties during an anti-circumvention inquiry. When Commerce reversed course in its final determination and found no circumvention, the protest deadline had already passed, so Allied was unable to get any refunds for the reliquidated entries, the complaint said. Steptoe, Trendl and McCue were made aware of the reliquidations, but did not communicate any new advice based on that information, the complaint says. “We will be filing in due course our detailed answer responding to these unfounded claims,” Trendl and McCue said by email on Oct. 14.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Oct. 8. The following headquarters ruling was modified recently, according to CBP:
CBP is actively “exploring whether it can use reconciliation as another option for importers to take advantage of retroactive exclusions” from the sections 232 and 301 tariffs, the agency said in a Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Working Group issue paper. COAC during the previous meeting mentioned reconciliation as a possible path (see 2007160032). CBP said it also “plans to provide a webinar to the trade on the protest process by the end of the calendar year.”
CBP published the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter that began Oct. 1 and ends Dec. 31, the interest rates for overpayments remains 2% for corporations and 3% for non-corporations, and the interest rate for underpayments will be 3% for both corporations and non-corporations. These interest rates are subject to change for the Jan. 1-March 31 quarter, CBP said.
The Wind Tower Trade Coalition seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on utility scale wind towers from India and Malaysia, and new antidumping duties on wind towers from Spain, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission Sept. 30. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is considering sanctions against Vietnam for importing illegal lumber to use in wood furniture and for currency manipulation that it suspects is hurting U.S. industry. The Section 301 investigations, announced the evening of Oct. 2, invite public comment on the extent of the violations, the scope of its impact on U.S. commerce, and suggestions for how to respond. Comments are due by Nov. 12.