Solar manufacturers asked for retroactive relief on Section 301 tariffs on manufacturing equipment, buyers and producers disagreed on medical product tariffs and many manufacturers supported the equipment listed, and asked for more equipment or parts for equipment that was not identified by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as it recommended a new round of exclusions limited to manufacturing equipment.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 overturned a hallmark of administrative law that had stood for four decades: the principle, established in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, of deferring to federal agencies' interpretation of ambiguous statutes.
A coalition of U.S. manufacturers seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of low-speed personal transportation vehicles from China, it said in petitions recently filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CVD orders on low-speed personal transportation vehicles, commonly known as golf carts, and the assessment of AD/CVD on importers.
CBP released the quarterly IRS interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter that began July 1, the interest rate for overpayments is 7% for corporations and 8% for non-corporations. The rate for underpayments is 8% for both corporations and non-corporations. That's unchanged from the previous quarter.
Witnesses at the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act eligibility review hearing contradicted an earlier comment from the Ethiopian government, which argued that Tigray has been relatively peaceful since November 2022, and basic services such as electricity, water, phone service, education and healthcare have been restored in the region. "Following widespread and substantial reforms of the food assistance structure, which allowed for enhanced oversight and beneficiary selection, USAID resumed food assistance across Ethiopia," Ethiopian representatives wrote.
CBP announced an Enforce and Protect Act investigation and said it has reasonable suspicion that Broadcreek Marketing Associates, Dorado Surfaces, Kingka Cabinet and Multistone Enterprises evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on quartz surface products from China. The agency enacted interim measures against the importers.
CBP Executive Director for Trade Policy and Programs Brandon Lord told an audience during a Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee meeting that its work groups had offered "very thoughtful, forward-leaning recommendations," and that he was particularly excited about their new vision of a customs brokers exam.
Matt Zehner, chair of the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Working Group for the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, told attendees at the June 26 meeting that Project Harvest, a process that sends automated messages to entry filers with possible AD/CVD mistakes in their entry summaries, has been working well. The system sends messages to filers who have either improperly used a company-specific 10-digit AD/CVD case number, or if the entry summary appears to have omitted AD/CVD case information.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the content of a rule on connected vehicles made by Chinese companies hasn't been decided yet, but she said the more she learns about the ability for surveillance by advanced cars, the more it scares her.
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