Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Budget Committee, recently introduced a bill that would allow the administration to impose Section 301 tariffs on goods made outside of China if they are made by Chinese firms.

Importer Omni Distributors on Sept. 24 voluntarily dismissed its customs case at the Court of International Trade on the classification of its hand sanitizer imports. Omni Distributors said the goods, classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 3824.99.9297, should qualify for Section 301 exclusions under secondary subheading 9903.88.45. Counsel for the importer declined to comment (Omni Distributors v. United States, CIT # 22-00250).

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.

While a top CBP official didn't give any specifics on how many brokerages were suspended from a pilot that allows electronic clearance of de minimis packages (see 2405310054), he told attendees at an annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference not to "be afraid of that enforcement," as the brokers who were suspended were so lax that there wasn't even anything that the companies could argue about with CBP.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will open a docket for comments on Sept. 23 for views on proposed new Section 301 tariffs on 8101.94.00 (Tungsten, unwrought); 8101.99.10 (Tungsten bars, rods, plates, sheets, strip and foil); 8101.99.80 (Tungsten, articles nesoi); 2804.61.00, Silicon; and 3818.00.00 (Chemical elements doped for use in electronics.

The leading Democrat in efforts to restrict de minimis in the House of Representatives, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore, has tried to restrict de minimis eligibility since the beginning of 2022, and has said that getting a bill passed is how he'd like to end his career in Congress (see 2402150060).

An importer of weekly/monthly planners told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 18 that it and the government were in agreement that the Court of International Trade had committed a reversible error by classifying its planners as diaries (Blue Sky The Color of Imagination v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1710).

A former Trump administration trade official said he can't predict whether a global 10% or 20% tariff will be imposed early under a potential new Trump administration, or exactly how tariffs on Chinese goods might be hiked, but Akin partner Clete Willems said he's telling business people to take these ideas seriously, even if every proposed change doesn't come true.

CBP is setting new requirements for imports of ship-to-shore cranes pursuant to upcoming changes to Section 301 tariffs on the cranes recently announced by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, according to a Sept. 18 cargo systems message from the agency.

As the House Ways and Means Committee discusses moving toward a proposal closer to the Senate Finance Committee chairman's bill to restrict de minimis, the top Republican on the Finance Committee is not publicly opposing the core ideas of that bill -- removing apparel and footwear from eligibility from all countries, and not allowing goods subject to Section 301 tariffs to enter duty-free.