New Bipartisan Bill Jeopardizes First Sale A new bipartisan bill was introduced in the House on Wednesday February 11 by Senators Cassidy (R-LA) and Whitehouse (D-RI). This bill, known as The Last Sale Valuation Act would: At this time, language for this bill has not been posted on Congress.gov. However, it can be found on Senator Whitehouse’s website. Argentinian Trade …

Short-lived Partial Government Shutdown Ended, AGOA and Haiti HELP Restored The partial government shutdown that took effect over the weekend has ended. On February 3 the House voted to pass the consolidated spending bills and extended funding for DHS through February 13. This gives Congress approximately ten days to find a solution to the calls for reform to Immigration and …

Lapse in Appropriations Leads to Hopefully Short-lived Partial Government Shutdown On Friday, the Senate voted to separate a DHS funding bill from the remaining five bills funding other agencies for the rest of the fiscal year. The splitting of the DHS bill stems from increased pressure to place restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. It’s important to note …

REMINDER: CBP Electronic Refunds Will be Effective on February 6 Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) program eliminating refund checks and implementing electronic refunds through the ACE portal will start next Friday, February 6.  All duties and fees refunds will only be issued through an ACE Portal account. CBP encourages all importers to have their own ACE Portal account. Importers with …

Section 232 Duties Imposed on Imports of Certain Semiconductors A presidential proclamation issued January 14, has imposed 25% tariffs upon imports of certain semiconductors and their derivative products beginning January 15. A fact sheet was also released. In the proclamation, a 25% duty is implemented on imports of semiconductors classifiable under HTS headings 8471.50, 8471.80, 8473.30 that meet the following technical parameters: A total …

Electronic Only Refunds Start February 6 An interim final rule published in the Federal Register on January 2 has provided guidance on CBP’s transition from offering refunds by check to electronic refunds. The interim final rule will take effect on February 6, 2026 and any comments regarding this interim final ruling are due by March 3, 2026. This rule applies …

Tariff Cuts for Switzerland and Liechtenstein Retroactive to November 14 In a Federal Register notice set to take effect tomorrow, December 18, the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce have announced that the reciprocal tariff cuts promised in the recent trade deal with Switzerland and Liechtenstein will be effective retroactively beginning November 14. Annex I to this notice …

Major ACE Portal Changes for Importers The President of the Unites States has set the goal of eliminating the use of checks in its transactions. Customs and Border (CBP) has developed programming towards this goal. The first part is that every importer should get its own ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) Portal account. CBP will be using the ACE Portal accounts …

Trade Agreement Between United States and South Korea Begins Implementation On November 13 the U.S. and South Korea released a joint fact sheet regarding the details of the trade agreement between the two countries. This fact sheet details the steps both countries agreed to undertake. On December 3, the United States Trade Representative followed through on the promises made in the fact sheet, releasing …

Busy Weekend Sees Multiple Trade Agreement Announcements Last weekend was a busy weekend for Trade. The White House, in conjunction with various trading partners, made multiple announcements regarding trade agreements that have been reached. The countries with which trade agreements were reached include Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and South Korea. All these agreements are in the …

Reminder: Chinese Cargo Ship Fee Begins October 14 Fees on Chinese-built, -owned, or -operated vessels as well as foreign-built vehicle carriers entering U.S. ports began October 14. These fees, which will increase exponentially over the next three years, are the result of a determination by the USTR that the attempted dominance of China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors is actionable …

President Trump Plans New Tariffs on Imports of Furniture, Heavy Truck, and Pharmaceuticals President Trump posted an announcement on Truth Social that he would impose new tariffs on imports of furniture, heavy trucks, and pharmaceuticals on October 1. He will impose a 25% tariff on heavy trucks to protect the future of U.S. manufacturers. He will assess a 50% tariff …

Updated Implementation Guidance for U.S. Japan Agreement In a CSMS message released late on Monday, September 15, CBP has released updated guidance on the implementation of the U.S. Japan trade agreement. This update contains tariff numbers and effective dates for the various modifications of duties that accompany the agreement. Retroactive to 12:01 AM EDT on August 7, goods that are …

Supreme Court will Hear the Two Cases that the CAFC was Remanding Back to the CIT Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed with CIT on the President’s unlimited authority under IEEPA to set reciprocal tariffs and the fentanyl tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. The CAFC set up to remand the cases back …