The COVID-19 outbreak will have “a longer and larger impact” on imports at major U.S. retail container ports than previously thought, said the National Retail Federation Monday. “Factory shutdowns and travel restrictions in China continue to affect production,” it said. Though plants continue to come back online, “there are still issues affecting cargo movement, including the availability of truck drivers to move cargo to Chinese ports,” it said. “Uncertainty has expanded exponentially.” NRF canvassed its membership and found 40% are seeing disruptions to their supply chains, and another 26% “expect to see disruptions as the situation continues,” it said. U.S. retail ports handled 1.82 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in January, up 5.7% from December, but down 3.8% from January 2019, when the Section 301 tariffs spurred “unusually high numbers” of imports, said NRF. It estimates February port activity will be 12.6% lower than a year earlier and is forecasting an 18.3% decline in year-over-year March volume.

CBP added on March 10 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the fourth tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The exclusions cover various medical supplies. “In addition to reporting the regular Chapters 34, 39, 40, 48, 62 and 63 classifications of the HTSUS for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the HTSUS classification 9903.88.39,” CBP said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently added eight new exclusions from 4A tranche of goods (see 2003060042). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 2-6 in case they were missed.

The COVID-19 outbreak will have “a longer and larger impact” on imports at major U.S. retail container ports than previously thought, the National Retail Federation said March 9. “Factory shutdowns and travel restrictions in China continue to affect production,” it said. Though plants continue to come back online, “there are still issues affecting cargo movement, including the availability of truck drivers to move cargo to Chinese ports,” it said. “Uncertainty has expanded exponentially.” NRF canvassed its membership and found 40% are seeing disruptions to their supply chains, and another 26% “expect to see disruptions as the situation continues,” it said. U.S. retail ports handled 1.82 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in January, up 5.7% from December, but down 3.8% from January 2019, when the Section 301 tariffs spurred “unusually high numbers” of imports, NRF said. It estimates February port activity will be 12.6% lower than a year earlier and is forecasting an 18.3% decline in year-over-year March volume.

Customs and Border Protection assessed $47.85 billion in Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports through Wednesday, said the agency’s trade statistics page Friday. The Trump administration imposed the first tariffs in July 2018 (see 1806150030) and has kept them in place on more than $500 billion worth of Chinese imports at rates up to 25%.

Customs and Border Protection assessed $47.85 billion in Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports through Wednesday, said the agency’s trade statistics page Friday. The Trump administration imposed the first tariffs in July 2018 (see 1806150030) and has kept them in place on more than $500 billion worth of Chinese imports at rates up to 25%.

CBP and the Justice Department are still considering whether to file an appeal of a Court of International Trade ruling against CBP regulations to prevent excise tax drawback (see 2002270062), said Alexandra Khrebtukova, a lawyer at CBP. “That decision is not yet final” because the appeals period has not yet completed, she said. An appeal would need to be filed by April 20 and “the United States is evaluating whether to file its appeal,” she said. Khrebtukova, who spoke as part of a March 6 panel at the Georgetown University Law Center International Trade Update conference, said she was speaking on her own behalf and not for CBP or the government.

CBP has assessed about $59 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of March 4, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $47.8 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, and $335 million in Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union. CBP also has assessed about $6.8 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $2 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells account for $1.6 billion in assessed tariffs. CBP's statistics account for refunds provided to importers.

Sonos is watching the coronavirus impact closely, having manufacturing facilities in China that are now coming back on line, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley at a Tuesday-night investor conference. The company had already started moving manufacturing to Malaysia to mitigate the Section 301 tariffs and expects to have most U.S.-bound production there by year's end, she said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant a series of medical product exclusions from List 4 Section 301 tariffs on products from China, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice. The new exclusions, which are based on 59 separate exclusion requests, cover eight Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings: 3401.19.0000, 3926.90.9910, 4015.19.0550, 4818.90.0000, 6210.10.5000, 6307.90.6090, 6307.90.6800 and 6307.90.9889.