CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP is unable to say much about a proposal to eliminate the de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, said Brandon Lord, CBP Office of Trade deputy executive director for trade policy and programs. Lord mentioned the proposal during a CBP Virtual Trade Week session Sept. 10. “Assuming that [the Office of Management and Budget] approves the proposed rule,” it will be eventually published in the Federal Register and opened for public comments, he said. He said the proposal was recently picked up by the “trade industry press” (see 2009040026), and that “it's difficult for us to make a lot of comments on this,” due to “restrictions around the rulemaking process.”

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

July laptop and tablet unit imports to the U.S. continued their torrid growth from a year earlier, though July growth was flat sequentially from June, according to Census Bureau data accessed Sunday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Shortages of laptop LCD panels and CPUs threaten to impede sales, as the supply chain buckles under the weight of sustained consumer demand for notebook PCs as “essential” work-from-home and remote-learning connectivity tools, said market leaders HP and Dell last month (see 2008280012).

July laptop and tablet unit imports to the U.S. continued their torrid growth from a year earlier, though July growth was flat sequentially from June, according to Census Bureau data accessed Sept. 6 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Shortages of laptop liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and central processing units (CPUs) threaten to impede sales as the supply chain buckles under the weight of sustained consumer demand for notebook PCs as “essential” work-from-home and remote-learning connectivity tools, market leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell said during earnings calls in August.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Aug. 31-Sept. 4 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notified Sonos it got extension through Dec. 31 of the exclusion from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs on speaker imports from China, said the company in a Thursday SEC filing. The exclusion extension eliminates the 7.5% tariffs until year-end. Sonos sources the speakers under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule's 8517.62.0090 subheading for a wide swath of Bluetooth goods, one of 87 categories granted USTR extensions Aug. 31 (see 2008310033). Sonos, whose exclusion was granted in March (see 2005110034), has begun the process of seeking refunds for the $30 million in tariffs paid through July, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany last month (see 2008060030). The company is continuing plans to diversify its supply chain into Malaysia, Bagley said on the August call. Sonos turned to Malaysia to reduce exposure to the tariffs on Chinese-sourced wireless mesh networking audio components. The company planned to have “significant” U.S.-bound production from Malaysia ramped up by Dec. 31, but due to COVID-19-related government restrictions on manufacturing in Malaysia, reaching scale will take until mid-2021, Bagley said.

The International Trade Commission recently issued two revisions to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement changes to exclusions on tariffs from China, as well as modifications of Section 301 tariffs on the European Union and Section 232 tariffs on aluminum from Canada. In Revision 20, issued Aug. 31, the ITC implemented recent changes to Section 301 tariffs on the European Union that removed cheeses from Greece and sweet biscuits from the United Kingdom, while adding fruit jams and purees from France and Germany to the list of goods subject to tariffs (see 2008130031). New subheading 9903.89.55 is added to implement some of the changes. The ITC also implemented new and amended exclusions from list three Section 301 tariffs on products from China (see 2008210003).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notified Sonos it got extension through Dec. 31 of the exclusion from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs on speaker imports from China, said the company in a Thursday SEC filing. The exclusion extension eliminates the 7.5% tariffs until year-end. Sonos sources the speakers under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule's 8517.62.0090 subheading for a wide swath of Bluetooth goods, one of 87 categories granted USTR extensions Aug. 31 (see 2008310033). Sonos, whose exclusion was granted in March (see 2005110034), has begun the process of seeking refunds for the $30 million in tariffs paid through July, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany last month (see 2008060030). The company is continuing plans to diversify its supply chain into Malaysia, Bagley said on the August call. Sonos turned to Malaysia to reduce exposure to the tariffs on Chinese-sourced wireless mesh networking audio components. The company planned to have “significant” U.S.-bound production from Malaysia ramped up by Dec. 31, but due to COVID-19-related government restrictions on manufacturing in Malaysia, reaching scale will take until mid-2021, Bagley said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notified Sonos it got extension through Dec. 31 of the exclusion from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs on speaker imports from China, said the company in a Thursday SEC filing. The exclusion extension eliminates the 7.5% tariffs until year-end. Sonos sources the speakers under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule's 8517.62.0090 subheading for a wide swath of Bluetooth goods, one of 87 categories granted USTR extensions Aug. 31 (see 2008310033). Sonos, whose exclusion was granted in March (see 2005110034), has begun the process of seeking refunds for the $30 million in tariffs paid through July, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany last month (see 2008060030). The company is continuing plans to diversify its supply chain into Malaysia, Bagley said on the August call. Sonos turned to Malaysia to reduce exposure to the tariffs on Chinese-sourced wireless mesh networking audio components. The company planned to have “significant” U.S.-bound production from Malaysia ramped up by Dec. 31, but due to COVID-19-related government restrictions on manufacturing in Malaysia, reaching scale will take until mid-2021, Bagley said.