The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 1-7:
The U.S. circulated a request for consultations with India at the World Trade Organization on July 4, over India's decision to raise tariffs on American almonds, apples, motorcycles, lentils, chickpeas and other products. The tariffs were raised on those products in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum. The combined product list is supposed to bring in $241 million in additional duties. The tariffs went up June 16, shortly after India was removed from the Generalized System of Preferences program.
2019 is shaping up to be another active year in terms of changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Like last year, a series of revisions were necessary in the first half of the year to implement Section 301 exemptions and an increase for $200 billion worth of the China tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent. Other major changes are related to the Generalized System of Preferences, and in particular the removal of India and Turkey from the program. In all, seven revisions were issued prior to the mid-year Revision 8, as follows:
The International Trade Commission on July 1 posted Revision 8 to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS implements the fourth and final round of tariff cuts under the expanded World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement. It also extensively reorganizes 10-digit tariff subheadings covering aluminum products, and adds tariff provisions for aerial work platform trucks, frozen berry mixes, diamond grinding wheels, storage lockers and certain electric motorcycles.
ITC Issues Semiannual Revision to 2019 HTS; Changes Take Effect July 1
The rapid changes in trade policy have elevated the need for adroit trade compliance management at international companies that hadn't previously been so concerned with customs duties, said two compliance professionals who spoke at the American Association of Exporters and Importers Annual Conference in Washington on June 28. "It's been an overall breaking down walls of communication" among the various groups at the company who "historically" didn't interact very often, said Antoinette Montoya, corporate export-import compliance manager at Bechtel Corporation. Now, though, "we've had a lot of really good strategic relationships built out of this," she said. Whatever happens with subsequent administrations, those relationships will "really help us in the long run," Montoya said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments in connection with its annual review of the eligibility of countries for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), USTR said. The agency will consider, among other things, whether to restore or revoke eligibility for sub-Saharan African countries covered by AGOA. Countries found ineligible for AGOA in 2019 include Burundi; Democratic Republic of Congo; Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP); Eritrea; Mauritania; Seychelles (graduated from GSP); Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; and Zimbabwe. USTR will hold a public hearing on Aug. 27, and the deadline to file requests to testify there or to file any prehearing comments is noon on Aug. 14. Sept. 3 is the final deadline for comments.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 10-14 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will hold a public hearing July 2 at 1:30 p.m. on product addition and removal petitions and competitive need limitation (CNL) waiver petitions submitted as part of the 2019 Generalized System of Preferences review, it said in a notice. The hearing will fall the same day as an International Trade Commission hearing on the economic effects of the potential GSP changes, which include the removal of two country-product pairs from the program, waivers of CNLs for two country-product pairs and the re-addition of four country-product pairs to the program (see 1906090007). Pre-hearing comments and briefs for USTR are due June 26, and the deadline for post-hearing comments for USTR is Aug. 15, USTR said. The effective date for any modifications resulting from the 2019 GSP review will be Nov. 1, 2019, the agency said.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the June 11 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent and other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):