On December 26, 2023, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it will further extend 352 reinstated exclusions and 77 COVID-related exclusions to duties imposed on goods from China pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 until May 31, 2024. USTR imposed Section 301 duties in four tranches or “lists,” and
The U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced on Friday that it was set to resume trade missions starting as early as March 2022. Trade missions are government- led programs where members of the trade can meet directly with foreign industries and officials to explore potential business opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic brought these missions to a sudden halt in March 2020 and no trade missions have occurred in the past 24 month. The International Trade Administration (“ITA”) is now preparing to resume in-person trade missions, where possible.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced in a notice that 81 COVID specific product exclusions would be extended for an additional 6 months, with all COVID exclusions receiving an additional 16-day transition period. The exclusions on the 81 products was set to expire on November 14, 2021, but will now be pushed back until May 31, 2022, allowing these medical – care products to remain free from additional duties upon importation. The announcement comes after USTR requested public comments on August 27, 2021 on whether the exclusions should be further extended.
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
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed comments in the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (“ITC”) investigation on whether imports of mattresses from multiple countries are causing injury to the domestic mattress industry. The petition was filed on March 31, 2020, and the Commerce Department initiated the investigations on April 22, 2020. In an unusual step, the
The U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) recently announced on its website immediate measures intended to mitigate the impact of the SARS-COV2 pandemic on U.S. businesses and supply chains. These measures include the following temporary changes to the registration and licensing requirements:
On April 20, 2020, the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced via the CBP Customs Service Messaging System (CSMS #4243171) that they would be postponing the deadline for payment for the deposit of certain estimated duties, taxes, and fees for importers who have experienced a “significant financial hardship” due
The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released a fact sheet that outlines exemptions, exceptions, and authorizations for humanitarian assistance and trade under the sanctions programs for Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Ukraine/Russia. The fact sheet can assist with questions about exporting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) announced in CSMS #42364745, issued April 14, 2020, that due to the high volume of inquiries the agency is migrating from its COVID-19 Relief Imports email address to the COVID-19 Relief Imports Web Portal, which is designed to address inquiries related to the importation of medical supplies to
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.