The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is accepting nominations for members of any of 15 Industry Trade Advisory Committees (ITACs) for a new four-year “charter term” ending in February 2026, says a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. ITACs, under a program run jointly by USTR and the Commerce Department, “provide detailed policy and technical advice, information, and recommendations” on trade barriers, negotiation of trade agreements and the implementation of existing trade agreements affecting industry sectors,” says the notice. ITACs also “perform other advisory functions relevant to U.S. trade policy matters,” it says. There’s no deadline for applications, as the program “will accept nominations throughout the charter term,” it says. The ITACs recently came to light during the Section 301 litigation when it was disclosed in previously confidential “decision memos” that USTR consulted with members in 2018 before imposing the List 3 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 2203250038). ITAC members generally supported the Trump administration’s effort to curb China’s unfair trade practices but expressed concern about the negative effect that the tariffs would have on U.S. businesses and consumers, said one of the memos. None of the advice ITAC members gave USTR proposed “any viable alternatives to increased tariffs as a tool for obtaining the elimination of China’s unfair trade practices,” said the memo.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 4-10:

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

CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2209 on April 11 containing 15 Automated Broker Interface records and five Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes changes related to reinstated Section 301 tariff exclusions (see 2204050068), CBP said.

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.

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

U.S. importers sourced 3.11 million TVs from all countries, in all sizes, in February, 1.3% fewer than in January but up 13.1% from February 2021, reported the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb portal Friday.

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

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated April 5 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

Though the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled April 1 that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative violated the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act when it failed in its final tariff notices to publicly connect the Lists 3 and 4A Section 301 comments it received with the tariff decisions it made (see 2204010059), the three-judge panel absolved the agency of APA wrongdoing amid plaintiffs’ allegations it ran sloppy rulemakings.