On October 25, 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that Thailand’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status would be revoked effective April 25, 2020 (tomorrow). President Trump decided to suspend the GSP duty-free entry status of nearly $1.3 billion worth of goods based on Thailand’s failure to “adequately provide internationally-recognized worker […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a new set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 3 Chinese tariffs. The List 3 notice contains 1 HTS subheading completely excluded from 25% tariffs, which covers 20 exclusion requests, and 107 partially excluded subheadings, covering an additional 157 separate requests. The latest round of […]

On April 18, 2020, President Trump signed an Executive Order authorizing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to postpone the payment of certain duties, taxes and fees for “importers suffering significant financial hardship because of COVID-19” for 90 days. To be eligible, an importer must be able to demonstrate: Full or partial suspension of business […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is scheduled to issue a temporary rule in the Federal Register on April 10, 2020 to allocate certain scarce or threatened materials for domestic use, so that these materials may not be exported from the United States without explicit approval by FEMA. The rule covers five types of personal […]

As you are already aware, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) partially excluded 110 HTS subheadings from Section 301 List 1 tariffs on July 9, 2019. At this time, this round of exclusions is currently set to expire on July 9, 2020. All cargo that has been entered for consumption or withdrawn from […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that just 8 (eight) exclusions from the third round of Section 301 tariff exclusions on List 1 goods will be granted extensions. As the exclusions for the third round of List 1 goods were set to expire on April 18, 2020, this means that the 8 […]

On March 31, 2020, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) announced that they would be postponing tax payments owed to the bureau by 90 days. The extension covers any payments owed from March 1, 2020 through July 1, 2020. At this time, it is unclear how, or if, this announcement will affect […]

Understanding the challenges importers were facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 20, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) message 42097586, requesting case by case need for additional days for payment of estimated duties, taxes and fees. Today, CBP has notified the trade community that they […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a new set of medical product exclusions from Section 301 List 4A Chinese tariffs. The List 4A notice contains 5 HTS subheadings completely excluded from List 4a tariffs and 7 partially excluded subheadings, which cover 36 separate exclusion requests. The exclusions will retroactively apply to all […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a new set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 3 Chinese tariffs. The List 3 notice contains 1 HTS subheading completely excluded from 25% tariffs, which covers 1 exclusion request, and 176 partially excluded subheadings, covering an additional 202 separate requests. The latest round of […]

Due to the severity of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that they will approve, on a case-by-case basis, additional days for payment of estimated duties, taxes and fees due to this emergency.  They have asked that requests be directed to the Office of Trade, Trade Policy and Programs at […]

On Friday, February 14th, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) revealed additional modifications to the Section 301 tariffs on approximately $7.5 billion worth of European Union (EU) products that originally went into effect on October 18th, 2019. The USTR will publish a notice in the Federal Register advising importers to prepare for the imposition of 25% […]

On Friday, March 13, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that just 11 (eleven) exclusions from the second round of Section 301 tariff exclusions on List 1 goods will be granted extensions. As the exclusions for the second round of List 1 goods were set to expire on March 25, 2020, this […]

Today, March 13th, 2020, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to adopt the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – known in Canada as CUSMA. It was then approved by the Senate less than an hour later, before Canadian legislators enter a brief recess until April 20th due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Already passed by Mexico and […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released additional product exclusions from Section 301 Chinese tariffs. The latest USTR notice features two announcements, each containing the specially prepared HTS subheadings excluded from either List 3 or List 4A tariffs. The List 4A notice contains 19 HTS subheadings partially excluded from List 4A tariffs, which […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 4A Chinese tariffs. The List 4 notice contains 8 HTS subheadings completely excluded from List 4A tariffs, which cover 59 separate requests. The list of 8 HTS subheadings that have been completely excluded from the List 4A tariffs are […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced an additional set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 3 Chinese tariffs. The List 3 notice contains 1 HTS subheading completely excluded from 25% tariffs, which covers 6 separate requests, and 46 partially excluded subheadings, covering an additional 61 requests. The latest round of exclusions will retroactively […]

Effective Thursday, February 13th, Canadian National Railway (CN) announced that it would begin a progressive shutdown of its Eastern Network services in light of the illegal protests against the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. Thus far, CN has already canceled over 400 trains along its Eastern Canadian corridor. Though officials have successfully obtained assistance from enforcement […]

On Monday, February 10th, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced an additional set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 1 Chinese tariffs. The List 1 notice contains 4 specially prepared product descriptions that are completely excluded from the 25% tariffs. The Section 301 List 1 tariffs initially spanned 818 products and […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that an additional item will be excluded from Section 301 List 3 Chinese tariffs. The List 3 notice contains 1 HTS subheadings completely excluded from 25% tariffs. The notice also includes five updates to existing List 3 exclusions. The latest round of exclusions will retroactively apply to all […]