ILWU Canada Starts a Strike The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) issued a 72-hour strike notice to the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) on June 28, 2023, to allow the terminals to prepare. While the contract expired on March 31, 2023, the two sides have been meeting since February of 2023. ILWU Canada began its walkout …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-009 – June 15, 2023
ILWU and PMA Reach a Tentative Contract Agreement The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) have announced that they have Reached a tentative agreement on a new 6-year contract for the West Coast ports. Neither side would release details of the agreement yesterday, but now the ILWU membership will have to ratify the agreement. …
Special Memo To Clients Issue 23-008 – June 05, 2023
Labor Disruption on the West Coast Last Thursday coastwide contract negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) reached a breakdown over wage issues. Until Thursday, negotiations had been reported as moving along well. However, negotiations took a significant turn for the worse on Thursday, resulting in a breakdown of talks. The ILWU and PMA are now reportedly …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-007-MAY 19, 2023
Update on Port Labor Contracts ILWU local 13 in Los Angeles and Long Beach had engaged in job actions in early April. There was a one-day walkout before Easter and the union increased red tagging of chassis entering the terminals which caused delays in picking up container that went one for a week. These actions ceased leading up to the …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-006-MAY-08,2023
Senator Wyden Addresses GSP as Part Comments on Trade Legislation Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-ORE) addressed Generalized System Preferences (GSP) of preferences in his comments on a China package his committee is working on to deal with economic competition with China. He mentioned that Democrats still support denying benefits under GSP for countries that do not protect women …
Special Memo Issue 23-005-May 01, 2023
Carmichael International Service opens a Customs Brokerage office in Dallas, TX. May 01, 2023 Monterey Park, CA – Carmichael International Service is very pleased to announce the launch of a full-service Customs Brokerage office in Dallas, TX. This new Dallas Customs Brokerage office marks Carmichael’s thirteenth facility in the United State and second office in the state of Texas. The …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-004 April 03, 2023
CIT Holds that USTR Complied with the Administrative Procedure Act in China 301 Duty Case The Court of International Trade (CIT), in a decision on March 17, has held that the Office of the U.S March 17Trade Representative (USTR) complied with the Administration Procedure Act when it set up the lists 3 and 4(a) of the Section 301 duties assessed …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-003- MARCH 9, 2023
CBP Trade Webinars in April U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will host two new trade webinars in April. The first one will be on Petroleum gases and other Gaseous Hydrocarbon in heading 2711 and it will be on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. The second will be on What is a Men’s T-Shirt and What isn’t a Men’s T-shirt, and …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-002 – February 21, 2023
Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit Registration Opens February 22nd U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will open the registration to its 2023 Trade Facilitation Cargo Summit on February 22nd, 2023, at 12:00 PM Eastern time. The Summit will be held in Boston from April 17th to April 19th. The registration information and the hotel location will be published on …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 23-001 – January 18, 2023
CBP Clarifies China Postal Code Requirement In November 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unveiled new requirements for postal codes to be included in China Manufacturer ID’s. The instructions implied that a China postal code will be required when a China MID is used for the release of cargo and for entry summary line information when an item is …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-016 – December 21, 2022
USTR Extends Several China 301 Exclusions! The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that the 352 exclusions from China 301 duties that were extended back on March 28, 2022, and were due to expire on December 31, 2022, have been extended for nine months. They are now due to expire on September 30, 2023. The list of …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-015 – November 30, 2022
President Biden Requests Congressional Pressure to Resolve Potential Rail Strike The votes on the union ratification of the proposed contract with the railroads have been submitted. 8 of the 12 unions ratified the contracts and 4 rejected the contract. This has set up a potential strike after December 9, 2022, which is when the cooling off period ends. President Biden …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-014 – November 22, 2022
Reminder: USTR is Looking for Comments on Effects of 301 duty The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is looking for comments on the impact of China 301 duties. They are looking for comments on the following questions: Has there been any effectiveness on changing China’s polices and what are the effects on U.S. businesses? Have they affected your …
Special Memo – November 3, 2022
UFLPA Region Notice for MID’s In a Memo to Clients earlier this week, we wrote about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s new instructions about adding a postal code to MID’s from sources in China. The deployment has been indefinitely postponed, but CBP has issued an alert to explain why this new requirement is being initiated. This notice can be found …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-013 – October 28, 2022
CBP Will Deploy New Requirements for MID’s from China CBP has set up a a new requirement for Manufacturer Identification Codes for when the country of origin is China for Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (ULPFA) enforcement. Here is the current language of the deployment: “The UFLPA Region Alert will add three new validations that will be performed when Country …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-012 – October 14, 2022
The USTR Announced a New Review of Section 301 China Duties The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced its plans for conducting a review of the Section 301 China duties. The USTR has determined that the Section 301 China duties for Lists 1 and 2 will be continued. With the extension of these duties, it is a …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-011 – September 27, 2022
FDA Food Facility Renewal Registration Begins Oct. 1 The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Facility Registration Renewal will open on October 1, 2022. The registration period will be open through December 31, 2022. All food facilities of an importer’s supply chains must submit a timely renewal. Failure to do so will cause products to be denied entry into the …
Special Memo – September 15, 2022
Rail Strike Averted The rail strike that was due to go into effect at midnight Friday has been averted. The Secretary of Labor made an announcement this morning that after 20 hours of negotiation an agreement was reached. The agreement must still be ratified by the rank and file of the unions, but there will be no work stoppage for …
Special Memo – September 14, 2022
Railroad Strike Looms The US Class 1 railroads are facing a possible shutdown due a potential rail strike. The railroads have been negotiating with several rail unions and some deals have been made with 10 out of the 12 rail unions. The two that are left are the biggest of the twelve: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 22-010 – September 9, 2022
South Korea Expresses Concerns on Electric Vehicle Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act South Korea has expressed its concerns about the provisions on electrical vehicles in the Inflation Reductions Act. The Trade Industry and Energy Minister have said that while South Korea supports the efforts to expand clean energy, the Act grants tax benefits to U.S. EV’s over imported EV’s …