Customs Duty

Ford Motor Company is "evaluating our options following the most recent ruling" on tariff engineering and the applicable duty rate for the Ford Transit van (see 1906070061), the company said in a June 12 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 7 overturned a Court of International Trade decision that had said vans imported by Ford are classifiable as passenger vans and dutiable at 2,5%, even though the stripped-down rear seats included in the vans were removed right after clearing customs. "If we ultimately receive a favorable ruling, we will receive a refund of the contested amounts paid and we will treat the refund as a special item," the company said. "Similarly, if we are required to pay the higher rate for prior imports, the payment will be treated as a special item." Neither event would affect the company's earning guidance, it said.

President Donald Trump may institute tariffs on goods from Mexico after withdrawing them if the Mexican legislature doesn't approve a part of the deal between the two countries, he said in June 10 tweets. "We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the Immigration and Security deal with Mexico, one that the U.S. has been asking about getting for many years. It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s Legislative body!" he said. "We do not anticipate a problem with the vote but, if for any reason the approval is not forthcoming, Tariffs will be reinstated!" The two sides reached a deal on June 7 to avoid the tariffs (see 1906070081) with Mexico agreeing to play a bigger role in handling of migrants from Central America who seek asylum in the U.S., the two countries said in a June 7 joint statement.

Joseph Bailey, CEO of children's clothing companies Stargate Apparel and Rivstar Apparel, is facing criminal charges over allegedly falsifying documents that were given to CBP upon import, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York said in a June 6 news release. Bailey is said to have submitted "invoices to CBP that falsely understated the true value of the goods his company imported," the Justice Department said. In addition to the criminal charges, Bailey and the companies face a civil lawsuit, DOJ said.

A domestic steel manufacturer filed petitions on June 6 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duty investigations on collated steel staples from South Korea, China and Taiwan, and new countervailing duties on the same product from China. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on collated steel staples that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools, Inc.

With ACE not ready, customs bond insufficiency issues, and importers unable to take on financial responsibility for tariffs on Mexican imports, the customs brokers who work at the California-Mexico border asked CBP and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to delay implementation of 5 percent tariffs past June 10. The Pacific Coast Council of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Associations sent a letter June 5 saying that its members are alarmed "that it will be impossible to comply, as the mechanisms for compliance are not available between now and June 10th."

CBP is seeking comments by Aug. 5 on an existing information collection for CBP record-keeping requirements. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the record-keeping requirements or to the estimated burden hours associated with the collection.

CBP is extending the comment period to July 5 on an existing information collection for yachts imported for sale, it said in a notice. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the information collected or to the estimated burden hours associated with the collection.

Tariffs on Mexican imports would have a profound impact on the U.S. TV business if the Trump administration were to make good on its threat to impose 25 percent duties by Oct. 1 (see 1905310044), suggests our analysis of International Trade Commission import data. ITC statistics show the monetary fallout from 25 percent duties on finished TVs imported from Mexico could possibly exceed that of the threatened 25 percent Section 301 List 4 tariffs on TVs from China, even though China ships many more TVs to the U.S. than Mexico does.

The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on quartz surface products from India (A-533-889/C-533-890), and Turkey (A-489-837/C-489-838).

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 20-24 in case they were missed.