Changes to the U.S. tariff schedule that implement an update to the World Customs Organization's Harmonized System tariff nomenclature are set to take effect Jan. 27, according to the presidential proclamation scheduled for publication in the Federal Register Dec. 28. The full list of coming changes are described in a newly released report from the International Trade Commission.
The White House released its much anticipated proclamation amending the tariff schedule to implement the five-year update to the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff nomenclature. The widespread changes to the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule will take effect 30 days after the proclamation is published in the Federal Register.
As released, the proclamation doesn't include the annexes that detail the actual changes themselves, though they will likely mirror those proposed in an International Trade Commission report to the president issued in April. The proclamation also amends tariff schedule provisions on Section 301 tariffs and on various trade agreements to conform to the changes elsewhere in the HTS.
The proclamation also removes Ethiopia, Guinea and Mali as African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiaries, saying the three countries do not meet AGOA requirements. Unlike the other changes in the proclamation, the removal of these countries from AGOA takes effect Jan. 1.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 37 entities to the Entity List this week for supporting China’s military modernization efforts or Iran’s weapons program and defense industries. The entities, located in China, Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey, will be subject to a license review policy of presumption of denial for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. No license exceptions will be available for the entities, BIS also added three additional aliases under Huawei’s Entity List entry. The additions take effect Dec. 17.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 27 entities to the Entity List for illegally selling technology to sanctioned countries, for supporting China’s military modernization efforts or for contributing to Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programs. The Entity List additions include laboratories and companies operating in the semiconductor, microelectronics and machinery sectors located in China, Japan, Pakistan and Singapore, and are partly aimed at preventing U.S. emerging technologies from being used for China's quantum computing efforts, the Commerce Department said. The agency will also add one entity to its military end-user list under Russia.
BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available. The additions take effect Nov. 26.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four entities in Israel, Russia, and Singapore to the Entity List for "malicious cyber activities" that are contrary to U.S. foreign policy and national security, BIS said in a notice. The two Israeli companies supply malicious spyware to foreign governments, and the companies in Russia and Singapore “traffic in cyber exploits” that threaten the “privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide.” BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. The Commerce Department said the Entity List additions are part of a government-wide effort to "stem the proliferation of digital tools used for repression." The additions take effect Nov. 4.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will issue new export controls on certain cybersecurity items and create a new license exception for those exports, according to an interim final rule. The rule will establish more restrictions on items that can be used for “malicious cyber activities” by imposing a license requirement for shipments to certain countries, BIS said. The changes, which take effect Jan. 19, will align U.S. cybersecurity restrictions with controls previously agreed to at the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS is also seeking public comments on the changes by Dec. 6.
The Biden administration recently announced a series of new sanctions measures against Russia that take aim at the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny and officials connected to the country’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order Aug. 20 that allows the imposition of sanctions on officials related to the pipeline. The Office of Foreign Assets Control followed with a series of designations of Russian officials, entities and vessels, as well as the publication of a new general license related to the sanctions.
In another action on Aug. 20, the one-year anniversary of Navalny’s poisoning, the State Department announced new restrictions on imports of firearms from Russia. OFAC and State also designated more Russian officials with that played a role in the poisoning.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add six Russian entities to the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. security and foreign policy, it said in a notice released July 16. The entities, previously sanctioned by the Treasury Department under President Joe Biden’s February executive order, operate in Russia’s technology sector and support the country’s intelligence services, the agency said in the notice, which is scheduled to take effect upon publication of the notice July 19. BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations and a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available. BIS also corrected one existing Russian entry on the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add 34 entities under 43 entries to the Entity List July 12. Of the 43 entries, two are located in Canada, 23 are located in China, two are located in Iran, two are located in Lebanon, one is located in the Netherlands, one is located in Pakistan, six are located in Russia, one is located in Singapore, one is located in South Korea, one is located in Taiwan, one is located in Turkey, one is located in the United Arab Emirates and one is located in the United Kingdom, it said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four Myanmar entities to the Entity List June 6 for supporting the country’s Ministry of Defense, including through funding and the provision of telecommunication services. BIS will also correct the address for an existing Myanmar entity on the list. For each of the new entities, BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and no license exceptions will be available. The entities will be subject to a license review policy of presumption of denial.
CBP issued an interim final rule that implements several provisions included within the USMCA. The rule, which took effect July 1, implements USMCA language on import and export requirements, "general verifications and determinations of origin, commercial samples, goods re-entered after repair or alteration in Canada or Mexico, and penalties," among other things. Another interim final rule to implement other USMCA provisions will also be issued "at a later date," said CBP.
CBP also proposed regulatory changes "to apply the rules for all non-preferential origin determinations made by CBP for goods imported from Canada or Mexico."
The Bureau of Industry and Security will on June 24 add five Chinese companies to the Entity List for their involvement in the government’s human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region. For each of the entities, BIS will impose a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. Items classified under several Export Control Classification Numbers will be subject to a case-by-case review policy, but all other exports will be subject to a presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available.
The U.S. and European Union are ending the longest trade dispute in the history of the World Trade Organization, and are moving from litigation to cooperation, the European Commission said in a news release. The White House said the tariffs are suspended for five years, which is a "fresh start," but allows the U.S. "to reapply tariffs if we’re no longer competing on a level playing field." Should the EU "cross a red line and U.S. producers are not able to compete fairly and on a level playing field, the United States retains the flexibility to reactivate the tariffs that are being suspended," said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during a call with reporters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press conference June 15 that a working group will look at state support on a case by case basis to see if the level playing field is maintained. The White House said the working group will meet at least yearly. The U.S. summary also said that the EU and U.S. will cooperate on countering investments in either area by non-market actors, since that can lead to the appropriation of technology, and they will also cooperate to counter investments in China that are "influenced by non-market forces."
The Bureau of Industry and Security added eight entities to the Entity List for their involvement in nuclear proliferation activities. The entities, located in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, will face a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial.
BIS also corrected one and revised two other existing Entity List entries and revised one existing China entry on the Military End-User List. The agency also removed one Pakistan entity from the Entity List.
The European Union announced May 17 that it would not hike tariffs on American goods that are on its retaliation list for Section 232 tariffs, such as whiskey, bourbon, orange juice, cigarettes, steel, motorcycles and yachts. Some items on the list have had a 25% additional tariff since June 2018, others, an additional 10% tariff since then. Europe had been scheduled to double the tariffs on June 1.
Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said, “Our decision to temporarily suspend the automatic increase in the EU's rebalancing measures against U.S. 232 steel and aluminum tariffs shows that we are walking the talk in our efforts to reboot the transatlantic relationship. By suspending our measures, we are creating the space to resolve these issues before the end of the year. The EU is not a national security threat to the U.S. But the distortions created by global excess capacity -- driven largely by third parties -- pose a serious threat to the market-oriented EU and U.S. steel and aluminum industries and the workers in those industries.”
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit removed a preliminary injunction against the State Department in an April 27 decision, allowing the agency move 3D-printed weapons off the U.S. Munitions List and onto the Commerce Control List. A State rule issued in 2020 would have made that change, but it was partly blocked as part a lawsuit filed by 20 states.
The Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court's decision to impose the injunction because it held that "Congress expressly barred judicial review of designations and undesignations of defense articles under the" Arms Export Control Act. The district court "injunction is therefore contrary to law," it said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added seven Chinese “supercomputing” entities to the Entity List for procuring U.S.-origin items in a way that harms U.S. national security and supports China’s military, BIS said in a final rule that takes effect today. The rule imposes a license requirement for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and BIS will impose a license review policy of presumption of denial. No license exceptions will be available.
The seven entities are:
- National Supercomputing Center Jinan
- National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen
- National Supercomputing Center Wuxi
- National Supercomputer Center Zhengzhou
- Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center
- Sunway Microelectronics
- Tianjin Phytium Information Technology.
The Senate approved House Ways and Means Chief Trade Counsel Katherine Tai to be the U.S. Trade Representative with no opposition. The Senate voted 98-0 in favor of the confirmation.
The European Union published an official notice that it is lifting tariffs for four months, starting March 11. The EU was levying retaliatory tariffs of 15% on aircraft and 25% on rum, vodka, brandy, cheeses, potatoes, nuts, fruits, juices, chocolate, ketchup and agricultural equipment from the U.S.
The European Union will drop its tariffs on U.S. exports on the Boeing retaliation list, and the U.S. will drop its Section 301 tariffs on EU products under the Airbus dispute, including food, wine and liquor, for four months, the EU announced March 5.
The U.S. and EU said in a joint statement that "the suspension will cover all tariffs both on aircraft as well as on non-aircraft products, and will become effective as soon as the internal procedures on both sides are completed."
The Bureau of Industry and Security added one Chinese entity to its Entity List, another to its Military End User List and removed two Russian entities from the MEU List, the agency said in a final rule that is effective as of Jan. 14. The rule added China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. (CNOOC) to its Entity List and designated Beijing Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co., Ltd. as having ties to China’s military. It also removed Russia-based Korporatsiya Vsmpo Avisma OAO and Molot Oruzhie from the MEU List.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said CNOOC "acts as a bully" for China's military actions China's in the South China Sea and allows the government to benefit from civil-military fusion.