Though supply chain disruptions continue to cripple Hong Kong, it appears that it’s not all bad news for China trade today, following the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) announcement that certain products will not be subject to additional 10% tariffs until December 15th. According to the USTR’s announcement, List 4 goods were evaluated based on health, […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released the first set of HTS subheadings that are partially excluded from Section 301 List 2 tariffs. The notice contains 69 HTS subheadings, which cover 292 separate requests. Please note again that these subheadings are only partially excluded from the 25% tariffs. The newest round of exclusions […]

Later this summer, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will deploy a change that affects the back-end processing of ACH Debit/Credit transactions.  The impact will be minimal for importers, but still marks an important change in process. Importers not participating in PMS (Periodic Monthly Statement) As the process exists today, a final statement is received the […]

Per our previous Shap Flash, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) had announced that it commenced proceedings under Section 301 of the Trade Act into a long-standing dispute concerning subsidies granted to the large civil aviation industry within the European Union (EU) and other member states. The USTR has recently revealed that it is […]

The U.S. and China are restarting trade negotiations following an enthusiastic meeting between President Trump and President Xi at the G20 summit this past weekend. Negotiations between China and the U.S. had previously stalled amid China’s failure to adequately address intellectual property concerns posed by the U.S., resulting in increased tariffs on all products falling […]

Per our previous Shap Flashes, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced plans to establish an exclusion process for products subject to Section 301 List 3 tariffs. The electronic portal allowing for exclusion submission requests will go live on Sunday, June 30th, 2019 at 12:00 PM. If you are “feeling the heat” in the kitchen as a result […]

By now, you may have learned that 17 metric tons of cocaine have been seized from the MSC Gayane by federal authorities on Tuesday, June 18th, at Philadelphia’s Packer Marine Terminal.  MSC has since been notified by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that their C-TPAT certification has been suspended for a period of […]

Friday, May 31st was a busy day!  In addition to announcing the termination of GSP privileges for India effective 6/5, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) shared that goods shipped prior to May 10th that fall under List 3 will NOT be subjected to an additional 15% in duties (from 10% to […]

On Friday, May 31st, President Trump announced that India would lose its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status effective Wednesday, June 5th. India’s GSP status is being revoked as President Trump feels that India is not ensuring the U.S. “equitable and reasonable access to its markets.” India’s loss of GSP status follows Turkey’s, and comes […]

On May 30th, in response to the record surges in illegal immigration crossing at the U.S.-Mexico border reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials in recent weeks, President Trump announced a 5% tariff on all U.S. goods imported from Mexico beginning June 10th. Moreover, Trump threatened to further escalate duties by an additional […]

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and Canadian International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have reached a tentative agreement to end yesterday’s planned labor lockout at the Vancouver and Prince Rupert ports, and will resume normal port operations effective this afternoon, Thursday, May 30th at 4:30 pm. Mediated negotiation efforts to end the lockout […]

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) released an official notice to the Canadian International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) indicating its intention to lockout dockworkers at the Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert beginning Thursday, May 30th at 8:00 am. The announcement trails the continuously tumultuous contract negotiations between BCMEA officials and ILWU […]

Several carriers have already announced upcoming Trans-Pacific blank sailings for June. The OCEAN Alliance, including CMA (including APL), COSCO (including OOCL) and Evergreen, will remove approximately 25,000 TEU from its Trans-Pacific trade lane in June (this represents over 6% of total capacity). The news comes amid declining demand due to the low volume of Chinese […]

Per our Shap Flash posted on May 8, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a statement indicating that the exclusion process for List 3 tariffs would be outlined shortly. Though no official announcement has been released yet, the USTR has released a separate notice on May 20th seeking the approval of forms […]

As importers subjected to Section 301 Lists 1, 2 and 3 can attest, additional tariffs have a major impact on your bond. With List 4 on the horizon (which covers nearly all products imported from China), it is more important than ever to gauge the sufficiency of your Customs bond. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) […]

Effective May 17th, the White House officially announced the end of Turkey’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status, since it “no longer meets the criteria to be considered a developing country.” Although, in March, the USTR had announced that both Turkey and India would be terminated from GSP, India is still in the GSP program. […]

The grace period is nearly up for Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS). Air cargo carriers should already have their method in place prior to June 12th 2019 to technologically meet the advanced security filing requirements for air cargo imports to the U.S. This data collection and submission program is a joint effort between Customs and […]

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published a new list (‘List 4’) containing “essentially all products not currently covered” by any of the three existing Section 301 tariff lists to be evaluated for future tariffs. Officials have asked the public to submit comments on approximately 3,805 HTS subheadings, totaling $300 billion in Chinese […]

On May 9, the USTR released a fourth round of exclusions. This list includes an additional 40 HTS subheadings that are either partially or completely excluded from Section 301 List 1 tariffs. The official notice contains five (5) HTS subheadings completely excluded from 25% tariffs, covering 86 separate import requests, and thirty-five (35) partially excluded HTS subheadings, which […]

We have just learned that the programming issues that we reported on yesterday have now been corrected. The programming revolved around the implementation of a new Chapter 99 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number to capture a 10% duty rate for shipments entered for consumption after 5/10, but exported before 5/10. The CSMS notice also indicated […]