The Agricultural Marketing Service is reducing rates for assessments on imports of live porcine animals, pork and pork products, it said in a final rule released Nov. 3. Effective Jan. 1, assessments on domestic and imported live porcine animals will decrease to 0.35% of the market value of the animal, from 0.4%. The assessment on imports of pork and pork products will also decrease to between one-hundredth and three-hundredths of a cent per pound, depending on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading applicable to the imports. The AMS is also updating the HTS subheading for prepared or preserved pork in its regulations.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
The International Trade Commission, which is tasked with measuring the economic impact of the USMCA's stringent auto rules of origin, heard from auto industry players in the U.S. and Mexico that satisfying the labor value content audits is next-to-impossible.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2229 on Oct. 31, containing 28,696 ABI records and 4,941 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. The changes involve 2022 Cotton Fee updates, as well as changes to PGA HTS flagging, it said in a CSMS message.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will not open a portal for comments about the economic impact of Section 301 tariffs until Nov. 15 (see 2210120051), but it has now posted the questionnaire, which has a dozen pages of questions, and will allow commenters to target specific Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 17-23:
The practice of providing tariff schedule subheadings for merchandise sold to customers is "customs business," and requires a customs broker license even if a disclaimer is included that the customer shouldn't rely on the classification, CBP determined in a Sept. 29 ruling, released on Oct. 22.
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on freight rail couplers from China (A-570-145/C-570-146) and an antidumping duty investigation on freight rail couplers from Mexico (A-201-857). The agency will determine whether imports of sodium nitrite are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value or are illegally subsidized.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Oct. 3-9 and Oct. 10-16:
A domestic producer coalition seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties on paper file folders from China, India and Vietnam, and new countervailing duties on paper file folders from India, they said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission Oct. 12. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CVD orders and the assessment of AD and CVD on importers.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced changes to Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers listed under exclusions from Section 301 tariffs effective for goods have either not been liquidated, or where entries that were liquidated but are not yet final, as of Oct. 14, according to a Federal Register notice released Oct. 13. The changes implement recent revisions to the tariff schedule, including those that took effect Jan. 1, 2022, and July 1, 2022, that affect subheadings previously listed as eligible for the exclusions. See USTR's notice for a full list of changes.