No conference committee members for the Senate China package have been appointed, even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a month ago the package would go to conference "immediately" with House bills (see 2111180009).

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 6-12:

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

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

Importer 3BTech launched a second, identical classification battle over its electric scooters, known as hoverboards, in a Dec. 10 complaint in which it alleges the hoverboards were assessed duties under the wrong Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading at entry into the U.S. 3BTech argues for a different HTS subheading than the one given to it by CBP, and, failing that, argues for an exclusion from the Section 301 China tariffs granted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (3BTech, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00026).

The “harmful” Section 301 tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports “are exacerbating the ongoing chip shortage and slowing our economy,” and they should be eliminated, blogged the Semiconductor Industry Association, following up on Dec. 1 comments urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reinstate previously extended tariff exclusions. The tariffs, “in their most direct effect,” add 25% to the cost of covered semiconductors, and subsequently contribute to inflationary price increases driven by global shortages and rising demand, said SIA Wednesday. The tariffs “are disproportionately harming the U.S. semiconductor industry and broader U.S. interests, all while failing to put real pressure on the Chinese government to change its unfair trade practices,” it said. USTR didn't comment Thursday.

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

The “harmful” Section 301 tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports “are exacerbating the ongoing chip shortage and slowing our economy,” and they should be eliminated, blogged the Semiconductor Industry Association, following up on Dec. 1 comments urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reinstate previously extended tariff exclusions. The tariffs, “in their most direct effect,” add 25% to the cost of covered semiconductors, and subsequently contribute to inflationary price increases driven by global shortages and rising demand, said SIA Wednesday. The tariffs “are disproportionately harming the U.S. semiconductor industry and broader U.S. interests, all while failing to put real pressure on the Chinese government to change its unfair trade practices,” it said. USTR didn't comment Thursday.

Importer MTD Products Inc. argued in its Dec. 8 complaint at the Court of International Trade that its lawn mower engines qualify for duty-free treatment and, in the alternative, an exclusion to the Section 301 China tariffs, and that CBP improperly denied its protest claiming as much. The importer brought in spark-ignition reciprocating or rotary internal combustion piston engines from China, each valued at less than $180, that are used in walk-behind, riding and zero-turn riding lawn mowers (MTD Products Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00036).

How to manage China's market distortions is an ever-present question in the relationship between the U.S. and the EU and will need to be addressed eventually, the deputy director-general of BusinessEurope and the president of the China Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said during a Dec. 9 Chamber event. Luisa Santos, from BusinesEurope, said that she sees new ambitions in Europe to address the disruption caused by non-market economies, including an anti-coercion tool that was just announced. But, she said, there needs to be more work in coordinating with the U.S. and Japan on how to address subsidies, state-owned enterprises and forced technology transfer. "I think one of the most important things to agree on what we think is a distortive subsidy and then the best way to address it," she said.