On February 4, 2020, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued CSMS # 41538803 – GUIDANCE: Additional Duty on Imports of Derivative Aluminum and Steel Articles, excerpts of which are reproduced below: On January 29, 2020, the President issued Proclamation 9980 on Adjusting Imports of Derivative Aluminum Articles and Derivative Steel Articles into the United States under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), providing for additional import…
On January 24, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Derivative Aluminum Articles and Derivative Steel Articles into the United States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Except as otherwise provided in the proclamation, all imports of derivative aluminum articles specified in Annex I to the proclamation shall be subject to an additional 10 percent ad valorem rate of duty, and all imports of derivative steel articles specified…
On January 24, 2020, 17 WTO members issued a statement agreeing to establish a temporary system for appealing WTO disputes. They reached an agreement during the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The WTO members include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the European Union, Guatemala, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland and Uruguay. Canada and the EU had earlier established a separate interim appeals procedure. The statement indicated…
On January 13, 2020, the US Department of the Treasury announced that it had delivered to Congress the semiannual Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States. In this Report, Treasury reviewed and assessed the policies of 20 major US trading partners. Treasury also assessed developments over the last several months with China and its currency practices. The announcement said: The Report concluded that while the currency practices…
On September 19, 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it intends to seek environment consultations with Korea under the Environment Chapter of the United States – Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). The announcement said: Today’s announcement follows the release of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) biennial report to Congress identifying nations for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, pursuant to the Moratorium Protection Act (MPA). In its report,…
On September 18, 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register a general notice that steel products from the Republic of Korea (S. Korea) that are covered by the quantitative limitations applicable to subheadings 9903.80.05 through 9903.80.58, HTSUS, that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after October 18, 2019 must be presented with certificates of exportation issued by the Korea Iron and Steel Association. Clause 7 of…
On 21 February, 2019, the Department for International Trade (DIT) issued guidance entitled, Existing trade agreements if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, which sets out the status of those agreements (free trade agreements, economic partnership agreements, association agreements and customs union) that may not be in place by exit day. It also links to trade agreements that have been signed and mutual recognition agreements that have been signed.
On December 21, 2018, the President signed the Presidential Proclamation to Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and for Other Purposes (not yet published in the Federal Register). The Proclamation:
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published the following documents related to WTO disputes in the Federal Register: F.R. Date Matter Comments Due 10-23-18 WTO Dispute Settlement Proceeding Regarding United States – Safeguard Measure on Imports of Large Residential Washers [Docket Number USTR-2018-0014; Dispute Number WT/DS546] (N/RFC) 11-15-18
US – CITA seeks comments on KORUS commercial availability request
On October 16, 2018, the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) published in the Federal Register a request for public comments concerning a request for modification of the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) rules of origin for certain textile and apparel products.