Post Archive by Month

USDA has Added New Data Sets for Filing of Certain Types of Entries Effective Jan 25, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented new data set requirements in ACE filing entries for certain imports. This is part of the ACE project of connecting “other government agency” requirements with the customs entry. The changes include: APHIS CORES = Animal Plant …

GSP and MTB Will Not be Extended on January 1 The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Miscellaneous Trade Bill (MTB) were not included in the Omnibus bill and will not be extended on January 1, 2021. GSP will mostly be renewed as it has been when it has expired several times in the past. Duties will have to …

CBP Issues a New WRO on Certain Cotton from China On Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made an announcement of a withhold release order (WRO) on all cotton products made by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp. (XPCC). The WRO applies to all cotton and cotton products made by XPCC including XPCC’s subordinate and affiliated entities. This means that …

CBP has Changed Some Criteria for Data for ISF Filing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice with a change to the format for data for filing of the Importer Security Filing (ISF). The change deals with the use of an IRS Employee Identification Number for the importer number. This is often called either an EIN number …

USTR Grants Exclusion Extensions to China 301 List 4 The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on September 2, 2020 granting 87 extensions to exclusions from China 301 duties, for certain items on List 4. Fourteen (14) of the extensions were for specific HTSUS numbers with no specific description to be met …

FTC Issues Proposes new Made in America Rules In July the Federal Trade Commission issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) with new proposed rules for an unqualified claim that if a good was made in the United States and for the marking of goods as made in the United States. The rules were issued to clarify and hopefully simplify the …

USTR Issues FRN asking for Comments for Extending Exclusions on List 1 The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on Monday asking for comments to extend for possible 12 more months the exclusions on list 1 that are due to expire on October 2, 2020. There are 3 lists of exclusions that are …

President Trump Issues Executive Order on Hong Kong Autonomy On Tuesday July 14th, President Trump issued an Executive Order regarding China’s actions in Hong Kong dealing with its new control of life in Hong Kong. The President has determined that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China and has suspended many of the provisions of the Hong Kong Policy …

Revised USMCA Interim Implementation Instructions U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has published revised Interim Implementation Instructions for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It provides various updates to instructions, many of which were based on questions CBP received in the webinars they hosted. The instructions are guidelines and the final regulations are expected near the date of implementation; however, the guidelines …

USTR Issues Regulations on USMCA Rules of Origin The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued regulations on the Rules of Origin for the United States, Mexico, Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). It includes several definitions and explanations on things such as transaction value when determining value content. The notice can be found on the USTR’s website. USTR Requests …

FTC Proposes to Require Energy Labeling on Portable Air Conditioners The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a proposed rule to require new EnergyGuide yellow labels on portable air conditioners. It would also require sellers to post label information to their catalogs and websites. Portable air conditioners are defined as “a portable encased assembly, other than a packaged terminal air …

CBP has All Ports of Entry Operational We are receiving several inquiries about the status of services by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the processing of entries and the release of cargo in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, there are no ports closed and CBP is working all cargo, including exams. At the ocean terminals …

Details of the U.S.- Japan Trade Agreement Available A Presidential Proclamation on several trade agreement issues was posted in a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on December 30th. This includes changes to the Israel Free Trade Area Agreement (ILFTA) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It also includes the announcement of the U.S. Japan Trade Agreement which includes the …

Agreement on USMCA Announced The White House and Democrats in the House of Representatives have finally come to an agreement on the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. After agreeing to sidebar changes in labor, the environment, and after Mexico had conceded to some of the edits required by labor, Speaker Pelosi has been able to announce that there is an agreement on the …

President Trump Announces GSP Changes and Other Changes President Trump has Issued a Presidential Proclamation announcing changes in Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status for seven countries. First, the Ukraine has had 138 classifications restored to GSP that had been suspended in 2017. This change went into effect on October 30, 2019. Second, Thailand will have approximately one-third of the …

USTR to Accept Exclusion Requests for China 301 Tranche 4 Late last Friday, The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that they will open requests for exclusions to Tranche 4 (lists 4A and 4B) of the Section 301 tariffs beginning October 31. The process will be handled through USTR’s online portal, similar to the exclusion request process used …

Two New Exclusion Lists Issued for Section 301 Duties On September 27, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the latest round of approved product exclusions from China Section 301 List 1 and List 2 duties. Shortly after the announcement, on October 2, a Federal Register Notices (FRN) for these two lists of exclusions was published. The product exclusions for …

Updates on the 5% Increase to China Section 301 Duties We have seen many comments on whether there will be a 5% increase on Section 301, raising the rate for Tranches 1, 2 and 3 from 25% to 30% and Tranches 4A to 4B from 10% to 15%. There is a written announcement on the website of the Office of …

Proposed Section 301 Tranche 4 Still on Hold At the start of new negotiations with China, President Trump stated that he would not request the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to start any new Section 301 duties while China and the United States continue their negotiations. Since then there has been no formal announcement from either President …

USTR Issues Instructions for Tranche 3 Exclusions The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on June 24th with instructions on how to request exclusions from the China 301 duties for Tranche 3 (the 3rd list) of the HTSUS numbers subject to the additional duties. To help manage the submissions the USTR has set …