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 government of India has taken drastic action for the containment of Covid19. As of midnight, they have instituted a countrywide lockdown for 21 days. Please note the details below: Total nationwide lockdown effective March 24th at midnight through April 14th, all states included. All non-essential factories and services are closed, and employees are working from […]

Due to a shortage of container volume, Seagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore will be closed next Monday, March 30 and Tuesday, March 31. In addition to the closures, Seagirt announced that gate hours will be 6:00 AM to 4:45 PM from Wednesday, April 1 through Friday, April 3. Many U.S. terminals have […]

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% […]

March 20, 2020 These certainly are challenging times for all of us. During this unprecedented pandemic, we have compiled a condensed update of supply chain conditions. The below is the status of events effective March 20, 2020. U.S. Domestic Trucking Conditions Driver supply remains solid with truckers hungry for work after Chinese New Year Driver […]

After an investigation into a confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Port of Houston, we have confirmed that the Bayport and Barbours Cut Terminals will reopen tonight, Thursday, March 19, 2020, effective 7:00 PM. Terminal, gate and vessel operations are scheduled to be fully operational effective tomorrow, Friday, March 20, at 7:00 AM. Despite the brief […]

Due to a confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Port of Houston, the Bayport and Barbours Cut Terminals announced that they are suspending operations temporarily. Port officials have yet to release additional information regarding the closures. However, customers with shipments routed through Port Houston may experience service disruptions and delays in the coming days as […]

As you may have heard over the weekend, UK and Ireland have been added to the Coronavirus travel ban.  As a result, shippers should expect several things: More flight cancellations starting this week (March 16) through April. Suspended airline tariff rates by many air carriers in favor of quoting ad-hoc. Virus screening ability at 13 […]

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 […]

Dear Valued Customers, Firstly, our hearts go out to the many victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.   We are quite sure that the global news may worsen in the coming weeks and months and we hope you, your families, and your companies remain safe. Unlike the Hanjin collapse or the Maersk-Damco cyberattack, we did have some […]

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 […]

On Thursday, March 12th, American Airlines announced it would be suspending flights to the 26 newly restricted European countries within the Schengen Area beginning next week (March 14th – 19th) until May 7th or June 4th, depending on the lane.  American also announced that they will be delaying the start of their seasonal Rome service, […]

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) officially enters pandemic status this week, President Trump announced a 30-day ban on all passenger air travel from Europe to the U.S. beginning Friday, March 13th at 11:59 PM (EDT). According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), any foreign nationals traveling within or from the 26 European states that […]

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 […]