The Commerce Department issued antidumping duty orders on large diameter welded carbon and alloy steel line and structural pipe from Canada (A-122-863), Turkey (A-489-833) and South Korea (A-580-897), and a countervailing duty order on large diameter welded carbon and alloy steel line and structural pipe from South Korea (C-580-898). The orders set permanent antidumping and countervailing duties, which will remain in place unless revoked by Commerce in a sunset or changed circumstances review. Commerce will now begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if requested, to determine final assessments of AD/CV duties on importers and make changes to cash deposit rates.
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.
A U.S. manufacturer seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on vertical file cabinets from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission April 29. 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.
Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told the congressman who represents the port of Laredo that 225 of the 545 Customs officials temporarily redeployed have returned to their jobs processing trade shipments at U.S.-Mexico ports of entry. The workers had been moved from their regular posts to deal with an influx of Central American families entering the U.S. (see 1904090036).
A coalition of U.S. producers is seeking the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on dried tart cherries from Turkey, it said in a petition filed April 22 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by the Dried Tart Cherry Trade Committee.
UPS, “like most other U.S. multinationals,” advocates for “fair and balanced trade,” CEO David Abney said on a Q1 earnings call April 25. The China-U.S. trade “uncertainty” is “prompting softer industry forecasts” in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. “We certainly encourage leaders of the two countries to find solutions that support increased two-way trade,” and also “assuring that many U.S. companies have access to export to China,” he said. Some UPS customers “have adjusted their supply chain” to mitigate the higher costs of the Section 301 tariffs and retaliatory Chinese duties, and to “adapt to changing trade dynamics,” he said. China economically “is still strong, maybe not as strong as in previous years,” he said. There are “a lot of developments” taking place in two-way trade between the U.S. and China, but also between “China and the rest of the world,” he said. That “sometimes gets lost in the China-U.S. discussions,” he said. “We think it gives us plenty of opportunities to focus and to apply our strategic imperatives” in e-commerce, he said. “We feel good about the economy for the rest of the year.”
The Commerce Department issued a notice in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigation on sodium sulfate anhydrous from Canada (A-122-866). The agency will determine whether imports of merchandise subject to this investigation are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The period of investigation is Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2018.
The Court of International Trade on April 22 ordered a novice importer to pay a $141,984.98 penalty, plus $146,368.64 in unpaid duties, for failure to declare stainless steel flanges subject to an antidumping duty order. Despite the Titan Metals’ small size, the court found the importer’s false statements on entry documentation “particularly egregious,” setting the penalty at 50 percent of the legal maximum.
The Department of Justice recently agreed to intervene in a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit against Selective Marketplace Ltd. and the company's alleged use of de minimis exemptions for the expressed reason of avoiding customs duties, the DOJ said in a March 27 filing. The filing was in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine because "a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claims occurred in this District," the DOJ said. Selective, which is based in England, mostly sells premium womenswear under the Wrap London and Poetry brands, the DOJ said.
Industry groups and unions continued to react to the International Trade Commission's analysis of the new NAFTA the day after the report was released, with most saying the report confirmed what they already knew.
CBP's rule that ended the use of some drawback for goods subject to excise tax was unsupported by the economic analysis and the intent of Congress, the National Association of Manufacturers said in its legal challenge to the drawback changes. NAM, represented by Sidley Austin and Hogan Lovells, told the Court of International Trade that the rules should be vacated and "permanently enjoin the enforcement of the Rule to the extent that it purports to limit drawback granted on the export or destruction of substituted merchandise to the amount of taxes paid," it said. A legal challenge to the rules was widely anticipated (see 1812190011).