Beginning October 18th, US importers of South Korean steel products subject to absolute quota limits will be required to provide “valid and properly executed certificates of exportation.” US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the requirement in a Federal Register, dated September 18th. The quota will allow South Korea to avoid Section 232 tariffs. The…
Trade Alerts
USTR Issues New Section 301 Exclusions for Lists One through Three
The US Trade Representative (USTR) has issued new exclusions for goods on the first three Section 301 lists. Exclusions on the first tranche include “310 specially prepared production descriptions, which covers 724 separate exclusion requests.” The second tranche exclusions cover 89 product descriptions from 400 exclusion requests, and the third tranche exclusions cover 28 product…
President Trump Tweets Tariff Extension for Section 301 Lists 1, 2, and 3
Yesterday, President Trump tweeted that the tariff increases for Section 301 lists one, two, and three will be postponed to October 15th. Duties for the goods found on these lists are slated to rise from 25% to 30%, as reported in the Federal Register on September 3rd. According to the tweet, the extension is a…
Hurricane Dorian Shuts Down Southeastern US Ports
Ports along the southeastern US have been or will be temporarily shut down due to hurricane Dorian. Hurricane Dorian was downgraded from a category five to a category four hurricane, but winds are still surpassing 100 miles per hour. Incoming and outgoing shipments may be affected as follows: The port of Miami has been closed…
Section 301 Tariff Increases Soon in Effect
The increased Section 301 tariffs for List 4 were published in the Federal Register today. The US Trade Representative (USTR) has increased the additional duty from 10% to 15% on Tranche (list) 4 goods. Effective September 1, 2019, goods on List 4A will be subject to the 15% duty, and List 4B will incur the…
Trump Will Increase Existing and Planned Section 301 Tariffs
According to the US Trade Representative, the US will increase the tariff rate from 25% to 30% on the existing three lists of goods subject to Section 301. The change will go into effect starting on October 1st, following a notice and comment period. The fourth list of goods subject to Section 301 will increase…
Section 301: Some Articles on Fourth List to Have Delayed Effective Date
The US Trade Representative (USTR) announced today that some goods on list four of the Section 301 tariffs will not be subject to the 10 percent duty until December 15th. The list of goods with a delayed effective date include laptops, computer monitors, cell phones, video game consoles, some toys, certain items of footwear and…
MPF and Other Customs User Fees Increasing on October 1st
For fiscal year 2020, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will adjust Customs user fees and limitations in response to inflation calculations. In accordance with the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), the minimum merchandise processing fee (MPF) will increase from $26.22 to $26.79 and the maximum will be raised from $508.70 to $519.76;…
Effective September 1st, Fourth List of Chinese Goods Subject to Section 301
Earlier today, President Trump indicated via Twitter that the fourth list of Chinese imported goods will be subject to a 10% tariff under Section 301 beginning September 1st. This list represents the balance of goods not already subject to the Section 301 tariffs and amounts to a $300 billion import value. The President stated the…
USTR Announces Exclusions for Second Tranche of Section 301
The United States Trade Representative has published the first list of goods excluded from the 25 percent duty assessed under the second tranche of the Section 301 tariffs on China. These exclusions are “reflected in 69 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 292 separate exclusion requests.” The exclusions apply to those goods meeting the product…
