On December 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced its final determinations in the antidumping (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) investigations of imports of wood mouldings and millwork products from Brazil (AD only) and China (AD and CVD). Commerce made a negative final determination in the Brazil investigation, while its determinations for the China investigations were affirmative. See the fact sheet for a summary the final cash deposit rates and margins.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it is extending certain product-specific exclusions related to the treatment of COVID-19 from the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China until March 31, 2021. On March 25, 2020, the USTR announced that it was seeking comments on the possible exemption of medical goods
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued a notice announcing the lapse of the Generalized System of Preferences (“GSP”) special tariff program, effective December 31, 2020, unless renewed by an act of Congress. The GSP is the oldest U.S. trade preference program and was established by the Trade Act of 1974. GSP effectively promotes the
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) has issued a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to add 77 entities to the Entity List. This rule took effect on Friday, December 18, 2020 when BIS made a copy available for public inspection on the Federal Register website.
As a
The U.S. Department of State (“State Department”) announced the imposition of sanctions on Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (“SSB”) pursuant to Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA”). The U.S. is sanctioning SSB over its procurement of the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia’s Rosoboronexport (“ROE”). SSB is Turkey’s primary defense procurement entity and ROE is Russia’s main exporter of arms. As a result of Turkey’s actions, the U.S. is imposing full blocking sanctions on four SSB officials along with certain non-blocking CAATSA sanctions on the SSB entity.
The U.S. Department of State announced that Sudan’s designation as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” has been officially rescinded effective December 14, 2020. In October, the President notified Congress that Sudan’s designation would be rescinded and certified that Sudan had not provided support for acts of terrorism within the last six months, and that Sudan
United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced the very first enforcement action under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) to address Canada’s tariff-rate quotas (“TRQs”) on imported dairy products, which the USTR alleges are in violation of various USMCA Articles to the detriment of U.S. dairy producers. USTR’s announcement follows complaints from U.S. dairy farmers and Members of Congress received earlier this year over Canada’s use of TRQs. USTR stated in its announcement that it was “disappointed that Canada’s policies have made this first ever enforcement action under the USMCA necessary to ensure compliance with the agreement.”
On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with October anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“USITC”) announced on December 2, 2020 that it would begin monitoring imports of bell peppers and strawberries pursuant to Section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930, following a request from the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) Robert E. Lighthizer. The USITC will monitor imports of the subject products for
The major thrust of this post is to underscore certain micro trends which have emerged in the ocean transport industry in the recent past, which are not expected to transcend into macro territory, but will be present for a good while, and need attention since they can result in substantial damages/losses to importers and exporters. Focusing on these can result in big dollar savings in the short and long run. These micro trends have surfaced as a result of a combination of events and developments such as unpredictable turns in the import trades from China/Asia to the United States; the export levels and trends of agricultural commodities from the U.S. to China; the prevalence of equipment unavailability to the shipping industry (both containers and chassis, and now, sometimes vessels).