Customs and Border Protection should provide more information through its automated commercial environment (ACE) system to importers about detention and seizures involving intellectual property rights, said the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee IP Rights Working Group in draft recommendations released before COAC’s Wednesday meeting. The agency should improve intelligence sharing with industry on violations. The working group suggested CBP improve its e-recordation system to help keep track of trademarks and copyrights. Meanwhile, the next test of blockchain technology involving IPR is "anticipated to occur September," followed by an assessment, CBP said in an issue paper on emerging technologies.

A bill barring use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act as grounds for imposing import tariffs or quotas on another country cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee without fanfare before the August congressional recess. Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., introduced S-2413 with six co-sponsors. To stem the influx of migrants at the southern border, President Donald Trump threatened in May to use his authority under the 1977 statute to impose 5 percent tariffs on Mexican imports starting June 10, and hike them by 5 points monthly to 25 percent on Oct. 1 if the border crisis persisted (see 1905310014). Trump lifted the threat days later, not before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce threatened litigation challenging his IEEPA authority to levy the import duties against Mexico (see 1906080001). No U.S. president in history has invoked IEEPA to impose tariffs on the imports of another country.

Lenovo remains committed to China as part of its “globally diverse manufacturing footprint,” despite the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, said CEO Yuanqing Yang on a fiscal Q1 call Wednesday. Lenovo is standing by its recent decision to invest more than $300 million in a “new smart manufacturing facility" in Shenzhen, he said. “That will not be changed.” The administration this week deferred 10 percent tariffs to Dec. 15 on several products Lenovo ships to the U.S. from China, including laptops and PC monitors, but left in place Sept. 1 tariffs on other goods, including desktop computers (see 1908130028). Lenovo has “built up efficiencies to offset” the U.S. tariff increase, said the CEO. “We reside in multiple locations around the world, which gives us a lot of flexibility compared with our key competitors in that atmosphere.”

Comments are due Aug. 23 on a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint filed with the International Trade Commission seeking a ban on imports of Honeywell and HTC wireless communication devices used in smart home systems, says a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Innovation Science’s alleges products in Resideo Technologies’ Honeywell Lynx, Lyric and Smart lines of devices, plus in HTC cellphones, infringe its patents on wireless communications. The infringing devices allegedly include smart thermostats, home control and monitoring systems and associated wireless security sensors, controllers and smart video cameras. Innovation seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing devices from Resideo and HTC. "We do not discuss ongoing litigation," emailed a Resideo spokesperson Wednesday. HTC didn't comment.

The escalating trade rhetoric between the U.S. and China should make all companies “realize (if you have not already) that this is not a temporary dispute and is not likely to be resolved anytime soon,” blogged customs expert Ted Murphy with Baker & McKenzie Friday. “The two sides are doubling down and digging in.” With 2020 elections “inching closer” and China’s 70th birthday festivities set for October, “the political considerations associated with these events make it less likely that a deal will be reached,” he said. “As a result, companies should be re-examining/re-adjusting their supply chains and pursuing additional Section 301 mitigation strategies,” while taking “a view to the medium/long term,” said Murphy. “We’re doing very well with China,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Friday. “We’re talking to China. We’re not ready to make a deal, but we’ll see what happens.” He left open the possibility of canceling the next round of trade talks in Washington in early September, which would be the 13th set of talks between the two sides since December. “The American taxpayer is not paying” for the Section 301 tariffs, said Trump, though virtually all business and trade groups called the tariffs a tax on U.S. consumers and businesses. “The tariffs have been amazing,” he said. “We’re taking in billions and billions of dollars” from the Chinese, he said falsely. Expect the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to remove few items from 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure when the final list comes out any day, blogged trade consultant David Trumbull of Agathon Associates Thursday. “Given the current state of U.S.-China trade talks, which are at the coldest ever, there is little likelihood of averting tariffs” when they’re due to take effect Sept. 1, he said. “In view of the way” the List 3 tariffs were hiked to 25 percent from 10 percent when talks turned sour with the Chinese, “we believe that if this trade dispute continues into 2020, there is substantial risk” of List 4 being hiked to 25 percent, he said.

Imports at major U.S. retail container ports are expected to continue at “near-record levels” in August and for the rest of 2019, “despite a new round of tariffs on goods from China,” reported the National Retail Federation Thursday. “Even with virtually everything” America imports from China “soon to be subject to tariffs, it isn’t quick or easy for retailers to change their supply chains,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “That means American families are ultimately going to pay more for goods they can’t do without.” Even if sourcing “eventually” shifts away from China, it will still come from countries other than the U.S., said Gold: “It’s time to stop punishing American businesses, workers and families for China’s wrongdoing.” U.S. importers paid $6 billion in tariffs in June, “one of the highest-tariffed months in U.S. history,” and up 74 percent from the same month last year, said NRF, citing data from the Tariffs Hurt the Heartland campaign, of which NRF is a member. U.S. ports handled 1.8 million 20-foot container equivalents in June, the latest month for which “after-the-fact” numbers are available, said NRF. That was down 2.9 percent from May and down 3 percent year over year, it said.

Tariffs on consumer tech products will increase by $1 billion or more per month if the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 duties on Chinese imports take effect Sept. 1 on all goods exposed (see 1908010059), said CTA Wednesday. The industry paid $1.7 billion in tariffs in June, more than eight times higher than in June 2018, despite a 39 percent decrease in imports year over year, it said. The List 4 tariffs “would nearly double that total in September” if the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative maintains duties on all products proposed in May (see 1905140025), said CTA. The U.S. in June imported more than $13 billion in consumer tech products from China that would face new 10 percent tariffs on Sept. 1, it said. “Tariffs are taxes -- and increasing costs on companies puts consumers in the middle of President [Donald] Trump’s trade war,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro. “The president does not have unilateral authority on trade.” He urged passage of House and Senate legislation (see 1906260019) that would “reassert Congress’ role in trade policy and protect Americans from being crushed by unending trade wars and retaliatory tariffs.” Nearly every application for displays faces List 4 tariff exposure, blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O’Brien Tuesday. If the higher tariff costs are passed along to consumers, the reduced demand will mean a “net loss” for the global display industry because the U.S. provides about 25 percent of worldwide demand, he said: “An industry already suffering from overcapacity will get worse.”

The U.S. Treasury Department had “no valid reason” to designate China a currency manipulator, said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Tuesday. Treasury’s decision Monday was in “total disregard of facts and based on its own measuring standards,” she said. “This is another bad practice to escalate trade disputes after the U.S. announced new tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods,” she said. Treasury’s action “will not help resolving China-U.S. trade issues in a reasonable and pragmatic matter,” said the spokesperson. Treasury and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued its first set of product exclusions from the List 3 Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions include 10 “specially prepared product descriptions and cover 15 separate requests, said the Friday notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, the date the List 3 tariffs took effect at 10 percent. President Donald Trump hiked List 3 to 25 percent on May 10 (see 1905060015). The exclusions will remain in effect until one year after the notice is published in the Federal Register. It took USTR roughly a month to grant the first List 3 exclusions, compared with waits of up to seven months each for Lists 1 and 2. USTR is creating Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9903.88.13 for the new set of exclusions, which include steel pet cages and inflatable boats, kayaks and canoes. Missing from the first of the granted List 3 exclusions were the exemptions Apple sought July 18 on 15 types of components for the Mac Pro desktop (see 1907260027).

A survey by shopping rewards app Shopkick found 60 percent of U.S. consumers will adjust where they shop if impending tariffs announced by the Trump administration take effect. The survey of 30,799 users, released Friday, was done June 28-June 30, before President Donald Trump’s Thursday tweet putting the 10 percent List 4 Sec­tion 301 tariffs into effect Sept. 1 on Chinese imports not previously tariffed. Of the 60 percent of consumers aware of the impending tariffs, some 40 percent reported having already seen prices increasing on store shelves, and 38 percent expect a household cost increase of up to $500; 30 percent expect a hike of more than $1,000. Roughly 60 percent said they plan to adjust the retailers they frequent; 44 percent plan to cut down on shopping; 29 percent are stocking up on goods now and 25 percent will switch to American-made goods, said the survey. Thirty-four percent of generation Z respondents were aware of tariffs vs. 74 percent of baby boomers. Half of millennials plan to reduce spending vs. 38 percent of baby boomers, 62 percent of whom plan to seek alternate options to cut costs, it said. Though the arrival and scope of tariffs are uncertain, consumers are “thinking ahead and plan to adjust their shopping habits and destinations, ushering in a new age of consumer shopping habits that American retailers will be forced to adapt to,” it said.