Customs Duty

A coalition of U.S. manufacturers seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on vertical shaft engines between 99 cc and up to 225 cc, and parts thereof, from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission March 17. 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 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America has presented a long list of measures CBP could take to ease the pain for brokers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the trade group’s request for a deferral of duty payments (see 2003230025) just one item of many, NCBFAA President Amy Magnus said in an interview March 24. Many of them are requests that CBP delay deadlines -- including, for example, for responses to CF-28 requests for information -- that are harder to meet as clients close their workplaces and operate skeleton staffs, Magnus said.

Much about CBP's efforts to temporarily relieve financial pressure on importers through customs duty payment deferrals remains unclear, though is likely to be widely appreciated by industry, industry lawyers said. CBP announced plans to consider duty payment extensions on a case-by-case basis and it is said to be considering broader measures (see 2003200038). The broader duty deferrals, which could be detailed in an executive order or the Federal Register, are seen as similar to the tax filing deadline extension recently announced by the Internal Revenue Service.

The American Association of Exporters and Importers is asking the Trump administration to help importers and exporters deal with the impact of COVID-19 response measures, whether that impact is a cash crunch, the effects of telework or business decisions made in response to delays in shipments from China. The group is asking the administration to extend the time to respond to regulatory notices that are paper based, including entry filings deadlines, because telecommuting makes it more difficult to manage the paper flow. It is also asking CBP to extend the protest period for customs duties and decisions.

CBP is looking at allowing extensions for duty payments in light of the ongoing response activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a March 19 email, following an industry update call with CBP. The NCBFAA and other industry members recently suggested in a letter that CBP consider such extensions, it said. “CBP understands the major impact this could have and is currently researching to see if the plan is feasible,” the NCBFAA said. “In the meantime, CBP is considering case-by-case deferrals.“

CBP is looking at allowing extensions for duty payments in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America said in a March 19 email following an industry update call with CBP. The NCBFAA and other industry members recently suggested in a letter that CBP consider such extensions, it said. "CBP understands the major impact this could have and is currently researching to see if the plan is feasible," said the NCBFAA. "In the meantime, CBP is considering case-by-case deferrals."

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is asking members to send letters to their congressional representatives to ask for them to include a change to bankruptcy law in a stimulus package responding to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are asking Congress to include H.R. 2261, the Customs Business Fairness Act, so that when importers go bankrupt, the customs duties they reimbursed brokers for aren't part of 90-day claw-back provisions under bankruptcy law. “We believe that many importers may find the need to file bankruptcy due to the issues surrounding the COVID-19 crisis and the disruption to businesses it has caused,” the trade group said.

The U.S. imported 3.03 million TVs from all countries in January, a 26.1% increase from December, but a 24% decline from January 2019, according to Census Bureau data accessed March 15 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. January TV imports were worth $798.23 million in customs value, up 9.8% from December, but down 24.8% from the previous January. The average January TV import was worth $263.20, which was 12.6% cheaper than in December and virtually unchanged from January a year earlier.

A coalition of U.S. manufacturers seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from Bahrain, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, South Korea, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey, and new countervailing duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from Bahrain, Brazil, India and Turkey, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission March 7. 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.

CBP and the Justice Department are still considering whether to file an appeal of a Court of International Trade ruling against CBP regulations to prevent excise tax drawback (see 2002270062), said Alexandra Khrebtukova, a lawyer at CBP. “That decision is not yet final” because the appeals period has not yet completed, she said. An appeal would need to be filed by April 20 and “the United States is evaluating whether to file its appeal,” she said. Khrebtukova, who spoke as part of a March 6 panel at the Georgetown University Law Center International Trade Update conference, said she was speaking on her own behalf and not for CBP or the government.