International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 1-4 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The immediate past U.S. trade representative criticized an amendment attached to a China package which would renew the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, and restart the exclusions for Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. The amendment, which got more than 90 votes in the Senate, also renews the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, but Robert Lighthizer was silent on that aspect of the bill.
After the House Ways and Means Committee chairman expressed optimism that global tax negotiations would solve the problem of digital services taxes around the world, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee, said that President Joe Biden's strategy is a lose-lose for America.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 2 upheld a Court of International Trade ruling that S.C. Johnson's Ziploc brand reclosable sandwich bags are classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 3923 as articles for the conveyance or packing of other goods, dutiable at 3%, as opposed to heading 3924 as plastic household goods, which would be eligible for duty-free Generalized System of Preferences benefits program treatment. Since the bags could fall under either heading 3923 or 3924, heading 3923 is the correct home for the bags since its terms are "more difficult to satisfy and describe the article with a greater degree of accuracy and certainty," the Federal Circuit said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 24-28 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
An amendment that will allow expanded information sharing from CBP on counterfeits, and which will renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, will be part of the China package expected to pass the week of June 8. The amendment, sponsored by Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, was modified slightly from its first introduction, when it failed to pass the filibuster threshold of 60 votes. This version, which passed with 91 votes on May 27, no longer expands a forced labor initiative on seafood to all seafood products.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 17-23.
During a round of votes on amendments on the Senate China package on May 25, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo's amendment, which called for renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, failed to pass (see 2105210045). It garnered 53 votes, with all Republicans joined by Sens. Angus King, I-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., but it did not get the 60 votes needed for approval.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America says that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill lead to offshoring and a low-wage workforce in the U.S., and that the MTB is "abused by importers who lobby against policies to boost domestic production, and it conflicts with the national imperative to re-shore the industries and jobs we have lost."
The Endless Frontiers legislation continues to attract amendments relevant to trade, such as Sen. Josh Hawley's amendment, published May 24, that would make countries ineligible for participation in the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program if any product from that country is identified by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs as one made with child labor or forced labor. Hawley, R-Mo., also proposes that, starting 90 days after the bill's passage, there will be an additional 100% duty on all goods produced in Xinjiang, or goods with components from Xinjiang, for at least one year. At that time, the tariff would only be lifted if the administration "determines beyond a reasonable doubt that no slave labor, forced labor, indentured labor, or child labor exists in the People’s Republic of China; and submits to Congress and makes available to the public a report on that determination." There have been hundreds of amendments proposed for the China package, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will decide which ones deserve floor debate and a vote. He has said he wants a vote to happen this week.