What might not be so obvious in this COVID-19 environment, which we have grown to associate with shortages, is that counterintuitively there are issues beginning to appear dealing with the opposite situation. The Journal of Commerce has reported that “[t]he container shipping industry is marshaling a response to signs of a building import backlog as some retailers and manufacturers fail to pick up containers because warehouses are full or closed due to not being deemed essential service providers responding to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).” This is a development with implications to all stakeholders in the supply chain and will have some impact on retailers/manufacturers, ocean carriers, ocean transportation intermediaries, and warehouses.
UPDATED: April 1, 2020 – Several U.S. executive branch agencies along with federal courts are instituting significant operational changes. These changes have either already been implemented or are anticipated at the U.S. government agencies and courts which manage international trade-related concerns in the coming weeks due to personnel and public safety concerns over the COVID-19
On March 31, 2020, Petitioners Brooklyn Bedding, Corsicana Mattress Company, Elite Comfort Solutions, FXI, Inc., Innocor, Inc., Kolcraft Enterprises, Inc., Leggett & Platt, Incorporated, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO (“USW”) (collectively, the “Mattress Petitioners”) filed a petition for
On April 1, 2020, Commerce announced in the 
On Friday, March 20, 2020 Customs announced that it was accepting requests for short-term relief from payment of estimated duties, taxes and fees due to the COVID-19 emergency, as discussed 
On March 27, 2020, Petitioner Worthington Industries filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of Certain Non-Refillable Steel Cylinders from the People’s Republic of China.
