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 – 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 …
Special Memo – June 17, 2022
UFLPA Instructions Have Been Published Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the strategy instructions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) which were expected to be released on June 21. The strategy instructions were required to be released to the trade in order to begin enforcement of the Act. A copy of the “Strategy to Prevent the …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 21-011 – October 29, 2021
Ports of LA/LB Assessing New Fee to Help Relieve Congestion In cooperation with the Biden Administration Task Force, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have announced that they will begin to assess a new fee to carriers for containers that dwell too long on marine terminals. The ports will have two categories for the new fee. The first …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 20-013 – December 28, 2020
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 …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 19-009 – June 24, 2019
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 …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 19-007 – April 12, 2019
President Issues Memorandum to Combat Counterfeit, Pirated Goods President Trump issued a memorandum that directs federal agencies to develop plans for battling against the dangers and negative effects of counterfeit and pirated goods. This includes imported goods that move through third-party intermediaries such as, carriers, forwarders, vendors, brokers and others parties throughout the import process. The memo has made the …
MEMO TO CLIENTS ISSUE 15-006 – April 1, 2015
Congestion May be Clearing up Sooner Than Expected At the TPM Conference in early March, many predictions were made that congestion delays would continue until the end of May. At the end of this past week we have heard from some terminal operators that the congestion is breaking up sooner than expected and we could see relief by the end …