The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) approved a broad set of recommendations for updating the foreign-trade zone regulations in 19 CFR 146 during its Oct. 3 meeting. The recommendations, which came through the Trade Modernization Subcommittee, are meant to address several issues, including confusion over the application of trade remedies to goods in FTZs and Section 321 entries for small value items. "Updating our FTZ practices and regulations is overdue," said Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Timothy Skud.

Past administrations of "both parties" gave "some lip service" to curbing China's unfair trade practices "but never followed through," National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said during a Q&A at the Economic Club of Washington Thursday. President Donald Trump "is following through" with the three rounds of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs he imposed over the summer, Kudlow said. He acknowledged he's "more of a doctrinaire free trader" than his boss, and that he opposed the administration's Section 232 tariffs on steel imports before joining the White House from CNBC. But there's "a lot of unfair trading practices" worldwide, and "the biggest culprit is China, and that can't be left alone," said Kudlow. "China has played fast and loose with the rules," he said. "The World Trade Organization needs reforms to enforce those rules. China's taken advantage. They're not a third-world country anymore. Why should we have to suffer?" Trump wants "a level playing field" with China, said Kudlow. "He wants reciprocity. Ultimately, he wants zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, zero subsidies." Kudlow acknowledged tariffs "may be painful in some cases," but Trump is "a disrupter." Kudlow is "quite patient" with the policy, and confident a deal with China "can be negotiated" as a result, he said. It has been only "four or five months" since Trump first imposed tariffs, Kudlow said: "Let him do his work."

ThePirateBay.org, an illicit torrent indexing service, remains a prominent target for the music, film and video game industries, show comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted this week. USTR collected comments through Monday for its Special 301 report on countries and groups that infringe U.S. intellectual property.

ThePirateBay.org, an illicit torrent indexing service, remains a prominent target for the music, film and video game industries, show comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted this week. USTR collected comments through Monday for its Special 301 report on countries and groups that infringe U.S. intellectual property.

Past administrations of "both parties" gave "some lip service" to curbing China's unfair trade practices "but never followed through," National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said during a Q&A at the Economic Club of Washington Thursday. President Donald Trump "is following through" with the three rounds of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs he imposed over the summer, Kudlow said. He acknowledged he's "more of a doctrinaire free trader" than his boss, and that he opposed the administration's Section 232 tariffs on steel imports before joining the White House from CNBC. But there's "a lot of unfair trading practices" worldwide, and "the biggest culprit is China, and that can't be left alone," said Kudlow. "China has played fast and loose with the rules," he said. "The World Trade Organization needs reforms to enforce those rules. China's taken advantage. They're not a third-world country anymore. Why should we have to suffer?" Trump wants "a level playing field" with China, said Kudlow. "He wants reciprocity. Ultimately, he wants zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, zero subsidies." Kudlow acknowledged tariffs "may be painful in some cases," but Trump is "a disrupter." Kudlow is "quite patient" with the policy, and confident a deal with China "can be negotiated" as a result, he said. It has been only "four or five months" since Trump first imposed tariffs, Kudlow said: "Let him do his work."

ThePirateBay.org, an illicit torrent indexing service, remains a prominent target for the music, film and video game industries, show comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted this week. USTR collected comments through Monday for its Special 301 report on countries and groups that infringe U.S. intellectual property.

LED lighting and home-control supplier Acuity Brands estimates the first two rounds of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports enacted through Aug. 23 helped reduce the company’s adjusted gross profit by more than $20 million in Q4 ended Aug. 31, said CEO Vern Nagel on a Wednesday earnings call. Though Nagel said “wage inflation” and higher freight costs also contributed to the profit decline, Acuity's plight was among the first documented examples of a company taking an actual big financial hit from the 25 percent tariffs that took effect over the summer.

Reclassifying Chinese imports into Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes for goods not exposed to Trade Act Section 301 tariffs is perhaps the least understood and most underused strategy tech companies can try for minimizing the duties’ impact, said a UPS executive in a webinar Wednesday. “If you’re not participating in what that classification process looks like, you’re taking a risk, I would say, at a minimum,” said Ron Shepherd, vice president, UPS Trade Management Services.

Reclassifying Chinese imports into Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes for goods not exposed to Trade Act Section 301 tariffs is perhaps the least understood and most underused strategy tech companies can try for minimizing the duties’ impact, said a UPS executive in a webinar Wednesday. “If you’re not participating in what that classification process looks like, you’re taking a risk, I would say, at a minimum,” said Ron Shepherd, vice president, UPS Trade Management Services.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) through year-end will “absorb” the “significant” cost increases of the 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports of networking equipment and components that took effect Sept. 24, it said in a Oct. 3 news release. The Trump administration removed imports of Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches and fitness trackers under the 8517.62.00 line item from the final tariffs list, but let 10 percent duties stand on networking equipment imported under the same classification. The tariffs are scheduled to rise to 25 percent after Jan. 1. “Many vendors have chosen to pass the cost through to channel partners and customers by immediately increasing prices,” but ALE “will absorb the current 10 percent increase and give partners the opportunity to place orders before a potential need to adjust pricing in the new year,” it said. Most U.S. customers “locked in 2018 budgets long ago and are already in planning cycles for next year,” ALE said. “We recognize an unexpected price increase could aggravate a budgeting process that is often already complex for business leaders.” It vowed to give three months’ notice of any 2019 price increases.