President Trump has just signed the Omnibus bill, which passed through the House and Senate earlier today. As a result, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will be renewed and all applicable stakeholders will receive retroactive benefits within the next 90 days. Earlier today the President expressed his concerns over signing the bill and heavily […]

The proposed renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) through December 31, 2020 is outlined in the Omnibus Spending Bill, which was released on Wednesday, March 21st. The 2,000 page bill has passed in both the House and Senate and now needs to be signed by President Trump. Under the Omnibus bill, GSP renewal […]

Following the recent announcement of additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, President Trump is now taking additional steps that could ignite a full-blown trade war with China by pushing for a hefty $50 billion in tariffs on imported Chinese goods. Trump’s concerns about the U.S.’s $375 billion trade deficit with China is fueling this […]

Due to the inclement weather, our New York office is closed today, March 21st. Employees will be working remotely until weather conditions improve. Our Baltimore and Dulles offices are open but with limited staff. Many employees will be working remotely to address all emails, but responses may be delayed. Shapiro will continue to monitor the […]

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced its procedures for excluding products from the recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum product imports. As directed by President Trump, the Department published the procedures in the Federal Register and began accepting exclusion requests from U.S. industry today, Monday, March 19, 2018, at 8:45 AM. Click HERE to […]

As we shared with you yesterday, as part of the U.S. response to China’s unfair trade practices related to the forced transfer of U.S. technology and intellectual property, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs. The United States […]

To offset increasing costs and challenges in the drayage market, many ocean carriers are beginning to implement an Emergency Door Service (EDS) surcharge on door moves.  The new ELD mandate and equipment/driver shortages are causing significant delays, and as a result, carriers are levying a fee against shippers to cover such costs or even restricting […]

Under Presidential Proclamations issued on March 8, 2018: “Steel article” imports specified in the Annex shall be subject to an additional 25 percent ad valorem rate of duty with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018.  This rate of duty, […]

According to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, due to Winter Storm Quinn and weather conditions expected to deteriorate overnight, all NY/NJ container terminals will be CLOSED on Thursday, March 8, 2018. Several terminals have stated that normal operations will resume Friday morning. Shapiro will continue to monitor the situation closely and […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has discovered an error in the creation of liquidation courtesy notices. Some filers received notices with errors and others did not receive notices. CBP is delaying delivery of the corrected courtesy notices until next week. All corrected notices for this week and next week will be issued on the […]

In retaliation to President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from China, Beijing has now imposed additional tariffs on 128 food and beverage commodities imported from the U.S. The Chinese government will begin enforcing these extra tariffs on Monday, April 2nd. The tariffs will affect around $3 billion worth of U.S. products. 120 products […]

Domestic Rates are Increasing As Service Levels Decrease The new ELD mandate, a severe chassis shortage, port congestion due to mega vessels, and an exponentially decreasing pool of drivers have brought the transportation industry to the precipice of a crisis. Now more than ever, shippers need to know how this veritable “perfect storm” of events […]

At this moment, CBP cannot make any changes or upload the new tax rates to ACE that reflects the excise tax cuts for beer, wine, and distilled spirits that took effect January 1st; they are waiting for implementation guidance from Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). As such, importers, as well as brokers […]

New regulations that require the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) and revise hours of service (HOS) rules for motor carriers are now in effect and are being strictly enforced. As a result, shippers may experience reduced free time and a greater likelihood of missed appointments/deliveries. With ELDs in place, trucking companies will face fines […]

Due to inclement weather caused by Winter Storm Grayson, our Charleston office is currently closed. Charleston employees are working remotely to address all emails, but responses may be delayed. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Chris Carlton at [email protected]. Shapiro will continue to monitor the situation and will advise if our other offices are affected by Winter […]

Effective January 1st, the products that were once eligible for being duty-free under special program indicators “A”, “A+”, and “A*” are now subject to normal duty rates when imported. While CBP still requests that GSP eligible items are identified with an indicator, the goods are dutiable until further notice. To ensure importers receive duty refunds […]

As you may know, after several delays, it appears that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will finally be rolling out statement processing via their portal Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) on January 8, 2018. While we have every hope that this deployment proceeds without incident, it is very possible that Customs will experience glitches along the […]

The expiration of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is right around the corner!  Assuming the program expires, the products once eligible for being duty-free under special program indicators “A”, “A+”, and “A*” will now be subject to normal duty rates when imported. While CBP still requests that GSP eligible items are identified with an indicator, […]

The new Electronic Log Data (ELD) mandate, which officially goes into effect on December 18th, is forcing truckers to pay much closer attention to their logs so as not to exceed their Hours of Service (HOS) requirements. Electronic logs, which cannot be manipulated with the same ease as their paper predecessors, have already caused rate […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) will be adjusted for inflation effective January 1, 2018. The MPF is assessed by U.S. Customs on most imports into the U.S.  The calculation rate, which is 0.3464 percent of declared cargo value, will remain unchanged. However, the minimum MPF will […]