SAN DIEGO -- Customs brokers shouldn’t be dismissive or fearful of artificial intelligence tools because those tools' ability to analyze massive amounts of trade data enables brokers to focus on other aspects of the business, speakers on a panel said at the Pacific Coast Council’s Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) last week.

CBP will bolster a number of existing initiatives in the coming months aimed at preventing the import of products made with forced labor, said Katie Woodson, assistant director within the operations and forced labor divisions of CBP's Office of Trade, during a panel on forced labor at last week's Western Cargo Conference.

Rope-coiled decorative baskets imported by Kohl's are generally classified as made-up textile articles, rather than as ropes, and an especially large version of one of the baskets is big enough to be classified as furniture, CBP said in a Sept. 27 customs ruling.

SAN DIEGO -- As brokers and their clients rely more and more on online methods and the cloud to conduct customs operations and everyday business, they should be aware that it’s practically inevitable that a cyberattack will one day hit them, panelists said at the Pacific Coast Council’s Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) last week.

The Federal Maritime Commission needs more employees and funding to investigate and penalize violators of shipping laws, especially for costly cases that move to U.S. courts, the commission’s enforcement division director told the FMC this week. Commissioners also said the FMC is closely scrutinizing ocean carriers and terminal operators accused of unfair surcharge practices stemming from the recent labor strikes at U.S. East and Gulf coast port terminals.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 23 ruled that steel tubing with insulating material imported by Shamrock Building Materials is classifiable as steel tubes of heading 7306, rather than insulated conduit of heading 8547, subjecting the steel tubing to 25% Section 232 tariffs.

Because China makes 90% of anode and cathode materials, and dominates processing of critical minerals, no matter where they are mined, recent hikes in tariffs on Chinese minerals will do little, trade experts agreed.

Domestic steel producer Zekelman Industries filed a lawsuit on Oct. 21 in a Washington, D.C., federal court alleging that the Mexican government breached its 2019 agreement with the U.S. to slow imports of Mexican steel products. The company argued that Mexico's breach of the deal "has devastated the U.S. steel industry," forcing the company to close two plants due to the oversupply of cheap steel (Zekelman Industries v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-02992).

SAN DIEGO -- The FDA is ramping up scrutiny on food importers that aren't fully complying with Foreign Supplier Verification Program requirements, said Dan Solis, assistant commissioner for import operations with the agency's Office of Regulatory Affairs.

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.