SAN ANTONIO -- CBP is hoping to publish a rule on the testing of the new Entry Type 86 for low value shipments in the fall, said Thomas Overacker, CBP executive director, Cargo and Conveyance Security, on April 17 at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference. The Entry Type 86 is meant as a means to provide information to the Partner Government Agencies on goods that are eligible for the Section 321 exemptions. "This data will also give us an opportunity for great risk segmentation," he said.
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.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 8-12 in case they were missed.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- A lawsuit challenging the new CBP drawback regulations that limit drawback on goods subject to excise taxes (see 1812190011) is expected soon, Sandler Travis lawyer Michael Cerny said on a panel at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on April 16. CBP is saying "the export of excise-tax-free goods is considered a drawback, therefore you can't get a second drawback of that through substitution," Cerny said. "This is going to be challenged," and he said he expects a lawsuit within "the next few weeks." The excise tax changes became effective on Feb. 19, 2019.
A coalition of U.S. producers seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on ceramic tile from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission April 10. 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 plans to start moving officers from the Northern Border and seaports to help deal with the influx of migrants at the Southern Border, the agency said during an April 11 call. "The current plans call for pulling agents from airports starting April 14 as replacements for officers concluding their 30-day shifts," according to a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America description of remarks by CBP officials. "On April 28, the agency intends to pull replacements from the Northern Border, as well. If a third wave of replacements is needed in May, the agency will tap ocean ports for officers to fill in for the 545 officers on duty. Assuming the manpower needs remain constant, the plan calls for pulling 245 officers from the Southern Border and 300 officers from other locations," the NCBFAA said.
The widespread use of Electronic Cargo Security Devices (eCSDs) would create many new benefits to both private industry and the border enforcement agencies, logistics company Expeditors International said in April 11 comments in CBP's docket on creating a 21st Century Customs Framework. "Trade interests and Customs interests both would be well served if the same trade facilitation benefits currently given to CSDs were afforded to eCSDs," Expeditors said. Such devices would be one way to improve trade security within the e-commerce supply chain, the company said.
Pro-trade Democrat Gregory Meeks, who represents Queens, New York, has introduced a bill with four other Democrats and fellow New Yorker Rep. Peter King (R) that would change the treatment of customs brokers when their customers go into bankruptcy. The Customs Business Fairness Act, H.R. 2261, was introduced April 10.
The sole U.S. producer of titanium sponge, TIMET, argued to the Commerce Department that two Japanese companies and TIMET should be given a price advantage and that all other countries' producers should be restricted through quotas or tariffs that are not subject to drawback. TIMET, which failed to win an antidumping case because the International Trade Commission said its production was not in direct competition with imports used by other U.S. processors, is asking for a preference pricing scheme, similar to those used in suspension agreements for antidumping cases.
Steel fence posts assembled in Mexico are actually products of the U.S. and are not subject to the Section 232 tariffs, CBP said in a Feb. 27 ruling. The ruling was in response to a request from Alex Romero of A.F. Romero & Co. Customs Brokers on behalf of Merchant Metals that asked CBP to weigh in on whether steel fence posts sent to Mexico for assembly operations could be returned under heading 9802 and whether the return entry triggers Section 232 liability. CBP said the Mexican processing doesn't create a substantial transformation of the posts.
President Donald Trump denied he said Mexico has a year to improve drug interdiction (see 1904040030), but, for the second day in a row, he suggested Mexico is improving its control of migration, so he won't need to close the border soon. "I don't think we'll ever have to close the border because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico at 25 percent will be massive," Trump told White House reporters a few hours after he made the one-year remark, on April 4.