Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

China recently extended its Section 301 retaliatory tariff exclusion period for sorbitol and other non-U.S. agricultural goods, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a July 8 report. The exclusion period was scheduled to expire June 30 but now will remain in effect until Feb. 15, 2023. USDA said this is the fourth time China has extended the exclusion period for sorbitol, adding that the U.S. has historically ranked as the second-largest supplier of sorbitol to China, behind Germany.

The Court of International Trade in a July 11 order said that counsel for exporter Guangdong Hongteo Technology Co. could not withdraw from Hongteo's customs classification lawsuit. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that since the plaintiff is a company and not a person, counsel for Hongteo -- namely, Lawrence Pilon and Serhiy Kiyasov of Rock Trade Law -- could not leave the case without substitute counsel first being identified. Pilon and Kiyasov sought to withdraw as counsel since Hongteo did not pay its outstanding legal fees.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Republicans who are in the China package negotiations say that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's tweet that said that moving even a smaller Build Back Better bill would halt negotiations was not an empty threat. He had said that while Congress was away from Washington, at the beginning of the month (see 2207010039).

Two Senate Commerce Committee Republicans -- Rick Scott of Florida and Dan Sullivan of Alaska -- were among five Republican senators who wrote Senate members of the conference committee negotiating how to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) to recommend changes aimed at strengthening the U.S.’ ability to compete with China. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., complicated negotiations on HR-4521/S-1260 last week by tweeting “there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.” “Economic competition with China is the single most important geo-political issue facing” the U.S., the five Republican senators said in a letter to the conferees. The other signers were Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “We remain deeply concerned that several provisions germane to the conference would substantially weaken” the U.S.’ ability “to combat malicious Chinese economic influence,” the senators said. They cited language in S-1260 that would amend the 1974 Trade Act “to create a rigid exclusion process under Section 301 which we fear would eliminate it as a tool to combat unfair and malicious Chinese trade practices.” It would create “a statutory exclusion process so broad that” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “would be incapable of implementing an effective strategy,” the senators said: “The provision requires USTR to conduct a detailed analysis of each exclusion request and, for exclusions that it intends to deny, requires USTR to demonstrate both that the tariffs do not impact the internal finances of a business unit, and do not create an anticompetitive market structure. This burden is nearly impossible for USTR to meet.” The senators urged their conferees to accept language from HR-4521 that “we believe would be a substantial improvement over current law,” including “improvements to U.S. trade remedy laws which would help domestic manufacturers compete against unfair trade practices,” including the Chinese government-subsidized Belt and Road Initiative.

Five Republican senators, only one of whom voted for the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), are asking that Senate conferees drop the directive to reopen a Section 301 exclusion process, and add a number of trade provisions only found in the House China package. Some House proposals that Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ala., Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Florida's two senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, both Republicans, want to include:

Two Senate Commerce Committee Republicans -- Rick Scott of Florida and Dan Sullivan of Alaska -- were among five Republican senators who wrote Senate members of the conference committee negotiating how to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) to recommend changes aimed at strengthening the U.S.’ ability to compete with China. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., complicated negotiations on HR-4521/S-1260 last week by tweeting “there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.” “Economic competition with China is the single most important geo-political issue facing” the U.S., the five Republican senators said in a letter to the conferees. The other signers were Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “We remain deeply concerned that several provisions germane to the conference would substantially weaken” the U.S.’ ability “to combat malicious Chinese economic influence,” the senators said. They cited language in S-1260 that would amend the 1974 Trade Act “to create a rigid exclusion process under Section 301 which we fear would eliminate it as a tool to combat unfair and malicious Chinese trade practices.” It would create “a statutory exclusion process so broad that” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “would be incapable of implementing an effective strategy,” the senators said: “The provision requires USTR to conduct a detailed analysis of each exclusion request and, for exclusions that it intends to deny, requires USTR to demonstrate both that the tariffs do not impact the internal finances of a business unit, and do not create an anticompetitive market structure. This burden is nearly impossible for USTR to meet.” The senators urged their conferees to accept language from HR-4521 that “we believe would be a substantial improvement over current law,” including “improvements to U.S. trade remedy laws which would help domestic manufacturers compete against unfair trade practices,” including the Chinese government-subsidized Belt and Road Initiative.

Five Republican senators, only one of whom voted for the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), are asking that Senate conferees drop the directive to reopen a Section 301 exclusion process, and add a number of trade provisions only found in the House China package. Some House proposals that Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ala., Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Florida's two senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, both Republicans, want to include: