In a statement released May 31, CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller addressed the Bureau's efforts to "Enhance Enforcement and Prevent Exploitation in the De Minimis Environment." "While the majority of brokers, carriers, and supply chain businesses that participate in CBP’s Entry Type 86 Test are compliant with applicable laws, we are enhancing our enforcement efforts to ensure that all participants are held accountable when they are not," he said.
April's announced "enhanced" enforcement of small package imports threatens to bring certain e-commerce activities to a standstill. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is reportedly inspecting every single ecommerce shipment coming from mainland China by air freight.
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA, is informing the public of another phase of the Federal Government’s enforcement schedule. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 amended the Lacey Act to provide, in part, that importers submit a declaration at the time of importation for certain plants and plant products.
The United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Volkswagen de México, S.A. de C.V. facility in Cuautlancingo, Puebla, are being denied their rights to freedom of …
The USTR announced the successful resolution of the second USMCA facility-specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter in the mining sector, regarding Minera Tizapa S.A. de C.V, a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles, S.A.B. de C.V. The facility, a venture of of Industrias Peñoles and Japan's Sumitomo Corp. and Dowa Metals & Mining. Zinc concentrates produced at Tizapa are sent to Japan for processing.
The United States announced the successful resolution of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) matter at the Servicios Industriales González, S.A. de C.V. (SIG) facility, a major metal fabricator and supplier for Caterpillar, John Deere and Komatsu in Nuevo Leon.
A bipartisan group of House members have introduced legislation that would provide investment tax credits to encourage the movement of pharmaceutical supply chains back to territories like Puerto Rico and Guam from China. The Bill states: The critical supply chains reshoring investment credit is an amount equal to 40 percent of the qualified investment with respect to any critical supply chain facility placed in service during such taxable year."
The Energy Department published guidelines and instructions for obtaining a waiver to the recently signed Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which bans the import of certain types of Russian Low Enriched Uranium into the United States beginning on August 11, 2024
A group of developing and developed members appealed for the EU to postpone the implementation of its new Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR).
Customs & Border Protection (CBP) issued an update including a high level comparison between the two Section 321 Programs (Section 321 Data Pilot and the Entry Type 86 Test). Section 321, 19 USC 1321 is the statute that describes de minimis, which provides admission of articles free of duty, but the aggregate fair retail value of articles imported by one person on one day and exempted from the payment of duty shall not exceed $800.
The inaugural Luzon Corridor Steering Committee meeting, to drive infrastructure investment and development along the Corridor met on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila last week. Luzon Corridor is the first project of the U.S.-initiated Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment in the Indo-Pacific (PGI), which is touted as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Maritime Silk Road.
Tuesday Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Environment and Natural Resources Kelly Milton was in Hanoi to lead the fourth meeting of the U.S.-Vietnam Timber Working Group.
BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen all rely on suppliers banned for using Uyghur forced labor, according to a report issued by the Senate Finance Committee. Interviews and documents obtained by committee staff show that Bourns, Inc., a California-based auto supplier, had sourced components from Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group, a company added to the UFLPA Entity List in December 2023, and whose goods are presumed to be made with forced labor.
The Administration is very concerned that China may try to evade the new 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told lawmakers Wednesday. The US Trade Representative’s Office, with assistance from the Commerce Department, is looking at how to ensure Chinese EVs made in Mexico are still subject to the tariff, she told members of the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science and related agencies subcommittee.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of 26 textile companies based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List.
May 16, the Administration announced new actions to protect American solar manufacturing from Chinese competition, including removing the bifacial module exclusion under Section 201, announcing the end of the 24 month "bridge," permitting duty free imports from ASEAN suppliers, and enhanced monitoring of trade flows.
Drones for First Responders (DFR) Act will implement a new tariff on Communist Chinese-controlled drones and use the tariff revenue to establish a new grant program to help first responders, critical infrastructure providers, and farmers, purchase secure drones.
The President signed H.R. 1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, into law May 13, 2024. This bipartisan legislative action prohibits the import of Russian uranium products into the United States as of August 12, 2024, while enabling a three and a half year waiver process through January 1, 2028.
Ambassador Katherine Tai issued a statement Monday regarding the finding against the United States in a determination regarding a labor dispute at the San Martin lead, zinc, copper and silver mine in the Mexican state of Zacatecas: The Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) panel established under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) determined that the agreement had no jurisdiction in the decades long labor dispute.
The United States, as Chair of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), and MSP partners welcome the new deal finalized between STL, a subsidiary of La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Belgian company Umicore that advances cooperation on germanium offtake and processing.