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Questions related to importing/exporting? Contact Diaz Trade Law today at 305-456-3830 or info@diaztradelaw.com.  

PC Wire Strand Availability Facing Risk

Guest article drafted by David Craven, an expert on AD/CVD matters, who serves Diaz Trade Law clients in an Of Counsel capacity.

Do you use, or are you planning to use PC Wire Strand?

PC Wire Strand is a critical raw material used in the production of pre-stressed concrete. The availability of such a product is now at serious risk, which would make producing pre-stressed concrete difficult and expensive. A trade action has just been filed,  seeking to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports from fifteen countries (Argentina, Columbia, Egypt, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates). This investigation is being conducted in parallel by two separate Federal Agencies; The International Trade Commission which decides whether the U.S. industry is being injured by the imports and the U.S. Department of Commerce which decides the amount of any duties.

PPE Imports During COVID-19

Contributed by Jennifer Diaz and Denise Calle, Diaz Trade Law 

Personal protective equipment shortages have posed a tremendous challenge to the U.S. health-care system. The increased spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic left hospitals and medical facilities with depleted PPE supplies to protect health-care workers and other medical first responders while treating Covid-19 patients. 

Ban on PPE Exports Under Defense Production Act

 On March 18, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) focused on Prioritizing and Allocating Health and Medical Resources to Respond to the Spread of COVID-19. This EO stems from authority granted under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA) and seeks to “ensure our healthcare system is able to surge capacity and capability to respond to the spread of COVID-19.”

Customs & International Trade Law ExpertSection 301 Tariff Updates: USTR Grants Exclusions & Seeks Comments on Products Necessary to Combat COVID-19! - Customs & International Trade Law Expert

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), faced with the current COVID-19 pandemic, has moved quickly to grant numerous exclusion requests in March 2020; many of which are for medical supplies. USTR is also seeking comments from industry on whether products are necessary to combat COVID-19 spread and should be excluded from the additional duties. DTL has assisted clients in submitting comments to the USTR – this is the time to let your voice be heard.

Below is a chart summarizing recent changes to Section 301 Tariffs:

Diaz Trade Law Remains Available During the Coronavirus

As information about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to rapidly evolve, we at Diaz Trade Law want to assure you that providing you the best service remains our top priority. We have received many calls asking if we are still working on cases and taking on new cases. The answer is, yes. To schedule a consultation, please contact info@diaztradelaw.com.

We have plans in place to maintain the high level of service that is expected of us.  You can depend on our team to handle matters with our usual efficacy, and we have instituted measures to protect you and our staff.

FREE Webinar Series on Intellectual Property Rights

Do you want to learn more about intellectual property rights (IPR)? Do you want to understand how IPR and U.S. Customs mix (and don't mix)? Do you want to understand how to properly protect your brand internationally and domestically and what type of enforcement action U.S. Customs can take against infringers? If so, this 3 part FREE seminar series is especially for you. Act now, and reserve your FREE seat while they last. Did we mention it's FREE??

Date and Time:

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

12:00 PM EST to 1:00 PM EST

FREE Webinar!

Session Highlights:

BREAKING NEWS: U.S.-China Phase 1 Deal is Officially Signed

On January 15, 2020, U.S. President, Donald Trump, and Chinese Vice Premier, Liu He, signed the U.S.-China Phase 1 Deal in the White House. The partial trade deal is an eight-part agreement consisting of 94 pages.

   

Simultaneously, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a Federal Register Notice announcing tariff changes in accordance with the President’s direction (tweeted December 13, 2019) to modify the action taken pursuant to the Section 301 investigation.

BREAKING NEWS: China Trade War Update - List 4A Reduced to 7.5% and List 4B will NOT become effective on 12/15

We have been monitoring for a news update on whether U.S. & CHINA reached a "PHASE ONE DEAL" since we last wrote about it on October 11, 2019. Two months later, the USTR published a press release confirming that the United States and China have reached an historic and enforceable agreement on a Phase One trade deal and President Trump tweeted the announcement noting that this “is an amazing deal for all”.

The New Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Process Set to Begin

On October 11, 2019 the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) began accepting Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) petitions for duty suspension or reduction. The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act (AMCA) of 2016 created the current MTB process. Under the MTB process, U.S. importers are able to petition for duty-free or reduced-duty treatment of certain imported products by submitting a petition to the ITC.

A detailed timeline of the process can be found here. The new MTB process, as set out in the law, runs from October 2019 through the end of 2020. The dates and time frames below have been calculated from the start date announced by the U.S. ITC and the text of the legislation:

• October 11 – December 10, 2019: USITC MTB portal open for petition submission.
• December 10, 2019 – January 11, 2020: USITC compiles petitions.
• No later than January 11 – USITC issues Federal Register notice soliciting comments on product petitions.
• January 11 - Late February, 2020 (45 days): USITC accepts public comments through online portal.
• January 11 - Mid-April, 2020 (90 days): Commerce conducts its review of petitions, at the end of which it submits its report to the congressional committees and the USITC.
• January 11 - Mid-June, 2020 (150 days): USITC conducts its review of petitions, at end of which it submits its Preliminary Report to the congressional committees, taking into consideration the Commerce Report.
• Mid-June – mid-August, 2020 (60 days): USITC conducts re-review of individual petitions, based on information submitted by the congressional committees, at the end of which it submits its Final Report to the congressional committees.

A successful MTB petition will cover a “noncontroversial” or “noncompetitive” product. The guidelines defining those products are:

• No domestic producer objects to the import duty elimination or reduction for the product;
• The import duty elimination or reduction for the product is determined to be in the interest of U.S. “downstream” producers and consumers; and
• The import duty elimination or reduction for the product must not result in a loss to the U.S. Department of the Treasury of more than $500,000 in annual revenue.

The ITC determines whether the petition should move forward. ITC delivers its determinations directly to congressional committees, including but not limited to:

• A determination if domestic production of the product exists;
• A determination of whether a domestic producer objects to the petition;
• Any technical changes to the product’s article description that are necessary for purposes of administration;
• An estimate of the amount of loss in revenue to the United States if the duty suspension or reduction takes effect;
• A list of petitions that it does not recommend for inclusion in an MTB.

Importers can request an elimination or reduction of duties, depending on the annual duty savings anticipated and the $500,000 threshold.

The ITC’s website indicates that almost 700 (or only 28 percent) of the petitions listed in the Commission’s final 2017 report were not recommended to Congress for inclusion in an MTB.  Many of these are due to issues regarding classification and the ability of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to administer the claimed provision.

Successful MTB petitions are compiled into a bill and presented to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees and would then need to be approved by Congress and signed into law by the president before becoming effective. If signed into law, then the MTB petitions may become effective January 1, 2021, with an expiration date of December 31, 2024.

The ITC’s new petition procedures appear more stringent than those applied during the 2016 round of MTB petitions.

The new procedures indicate that the petitions should include (to the extent available):

1. CBP rulings issued on the product;
2. a copy of other CBP documentation indicating where the article is classified in the HTS;
3. an estimate of both total value and dutiable value for the product for the next five calendar years;
4. an estimate of the share of total imports represented by the petitioner’s imports of the subject article;
5. the names of any domestic producers of the article, if available;
6. a certification of completeness and correctness; and
7. an acknowledgement of the petitioner’s awareness that the information submitted is subject to ITC audit and verification.

The USITC will take into account the Department of Commerce report, including input from CBP, and other Executive agencies, in its report. The USITC will provide its preliminary report to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees in mid-June 2020 and its final report in mid-August 2020. In between the preliminary and final reports, the USITC is directed to consider information from the congressional committees on its report. For more information on the MTB process, click here.

For more information regarding the filing or preparation of the petition, contact Diaz Trade Law today at 305-456-3830 or via email at info@diaztradelaw.com.