President Donald Trump “overstepped his power” to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, “and our nation’s businesses and families are footing the bill,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro Wednesday, urging Congress to “intervene.” With fewer than 40 legislative days left this year, the Senate and House should hold hearings on S-899 and HR-3477, said Shapiro. The bills would raise congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s Trade Act Section 301 tariff actions but have gone nowhere since their introduction (see 1909020001). The legislation would “protect Americans from this seemingly endless trade war,” said Shapiro. “Congress has the power to review and should use its limited time left to investigate the scope and intent of the president’s misguided trade policy.”

China released its first batch of tariff exemptions for U.S. goods, which include exemptions for 16 items, according to an unofficial translation of a Ministry of Finance press release. The goods will be excluded from China’s first round of retaliatory tariffs in response to U.S. Section 301 tariffs. The exemptions will take effect Sept. 17 and last until Sept. 16, 2020, China said, adding that it plans to publish more exemptions in “due course.”

CBP is planning to put out some more information about the power of attorney requirements for customs brokers filing Type 86 entries, a CBP official said during a Sept. 12 call with software developers. The agency's Type 86 test notice (see 1908120019) mentions that CBP is "requiring that consignees intending to file an entry type '86' appoint a customs broker to act as the importer of record (IOR) for the shipment" and that "customs brokers must be designated to enter qualifying shipments through a valid power of attorney." While filing Type 86 entries is considered "customs business," CBP's "intention was not to have a broker go out and get thousands of powers of attorney when they're doing these type of shipments," the CBP official said. "So we are working with our attorneys to get some kind of clarification out there of what we mean by 'power of attorney,'" she said. For Type 86 entries that are subject to the Section 301 tariffs on China, CBP does not "expect" the filer to include Chapter 99 tariff numbers that are required for other entries with Section 301 goods, the official said.

Universal Display stands by the estimates it shared last month that it “pulled in” $15 million to $20 million in Q2 "prepurchase" OLED materials orders it would have recorded in Q3 if not for Chinese panel-maker customers seeking to beat the List 4 Section 301 tariffs on TVs and smartphones (see 1908020004), Chief Financial Officer Sid Rosenblatt told the Deutsche Bank technology conference Tuesday. Universal had a “pretty good feel” that the tariffs were at play, he said.

President Donald Trump has “overstepped his power” to impose Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, “and our nation’s businesses and families are footing the bill,” Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro said Sept. 11, urging Congress to “intervene” in the U.S.-China trade war. With fewer than 40 legislative days left this year, the House and Senate should hold hearings on S. 899 and H.R. 3477, Shapiro said. The bills would raise congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariff actions, but have gone nowhere since being introduced months ago (see 1906250029). The legislation would “protect Americans from this seemingly endless trade war,” Shapiro said. “Congress has the power to review and should use its limited time left to investigate the scope and intent of the president’s misguided trade policy.”

Imports at major U.S. retail container ports reached “unusually high numbers” just before the new 15 percent Section 301 tariffs on List 4A Chinese goods took effect Sept. 1, said the National Retail Federation Tuesday. Imports “are expected to surge again” before the List 4B tariffs take effect Dec. 15, it said. “Retailers are still trying to minimize the impact of the trade war on consumers by bringing in as much merchandise as they can before each new round of tariffs takes effect and drives up prices." U.S. ports handled 1.96 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available, said NRF. That was up 9.1 percent sequentially from June and a 2.9 percent increase from July 2018, it said. “Likely driven by the new tariffs” scheduled to take effect Dec. 15, November imports will reach 1.97 million containers, the highest monthly total since shipments topped 2 million last October, NRF forecasts.

Tariffs, economic volatility, fear of recession and a decline in housing starts has custom integrators shuffling to adjust, buying group executives told Consumer Electronics Daily. Housing starts fell 4 percent in July for the third straight month, according to Commerce Department data. Pending home sales fell 2.5 percent in July, reversing two months of gains, said the National Association of Realtors last month.

President Donald Trump said the next Section 301 tariff increase won't occur until Oct. 15, two weeks later than the previously announced date. "We have agreed, as a gesture of good will, to move the increased Tariffs on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods (25% to 30%), from October 1st to October 15th," he said in a tweet.

Imports at major U.S. retail container ports reached “unusually high numbers” just before the new 15 percent Section 301 tariffs on List 4A Chinese goods took effect Sept. 1, the National Retail Federation said Sept. 10. Imports “are expected to surge again” before the List 4B tariffs take effect Dec. 15, it said. “Retailers are still trying to minimize the impact of the trade war on consumers by bringing in as much merchandise as they can before each new round of tariffs takes effect and drives up prices." U.S. ports handled 1.96 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available, NRF said. That was up 9.1 percent sequentially from June and represented a 2.9 percent increase from July 2018, it said. “Likely driven by the new tariffs” scheduled to take effect Dec. 15, NRF forecasts November imports will reach 1.97 million containers, the highest monthly total since shipments topped 2 million last October, it said.

The fourth tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods that the Trump administration split into two subgroups, lists 4A and 4B, includes many very similar items that will require specificity for differentiating among them, blogged the Atlanta International Forwarders and Customs Brokers Association. Tariffs of 15 percent tariffs on the 4A goods took effect Sept. 1, and 15 percent duties on 4B items start Dec. 15. President Donald Trump said the 4B duties were deferred so they wouldn't hurt holiday shopping (see 1908130028). "Importers should pay special attention to material construction and product descriptions, now more than ever," said the association. "The two lists, in many cases, only differ after the 8th digit level of the Tariff number," which is based on material construction or specific uses, it said. "Projectors capable of directly connecting to and designed for use with an automatic data processing machine are on list 4A, unless they are color video projectors with a flat panel screen incorporating a VCR or player," said the trade group. "LED light bulbs and Christmas light bulbs escape higher tariffs until December while filament lamps are on List 4A."