President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 31 that mandates CBP work toward new criteria for obtaining importer of record numbers, and new consequences for customs brokers that help importers evade those criteria. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to "issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish criteria importers must meet in order to obtain an importer of record number," and says one of those criteria must be that CBP debarment or suspension for reasons related to trade renders an importer ineligible.
CBP remains cautious in moving toward continuing education requirements for customs brokers as it continues to examine the issues that derailed a similar effort some years ago, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade, during a Jan. 29 interview with International Trade Today. CBP recently launched a task force on the subject (see 1910160056), but the agency is considering whether an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) is necessary before issuing an actual proposal, she said.
The following is a selection of articles that appeared in International Trade Today in 2019 covering ruling letters. CBP frequently publishes rulings months after they are issued, so these articles are included based on the dates the articles were published, rather than the date the ruling letter was issued.
Tariffs on French champagne, cheeses, handbags and other products (see 2001060040) will not be coming, several news outlets are reporting, since France has agreed not to impose a Digital Services Tax in 2020 as negotiations continue at the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development on a fair way to impose income taxes on companies such as Google and Amazon.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold two meetings with the trade community on implementation of upcoming inspection requirements under the agreement suspending antidumping and countervailing duties on fresh tomatoes from Mexico, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update. One of the meetings will be held in Nogales, Arizona, on Jan. 28; the other will be on Jan. 30 in Otay Mesa, California.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2019 in case they were missed.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 23-27 in case they were missed.
CBP scheduled its semiannual customs broker license exams for Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, the agency said in a notice. The exams are typically given on the fourth Wednesday in April and in October. “Due to the limited availability of testing sites and to ensure the integrity of exam conditions by preventing commingling of the administration of the broker exams with other types of exams, CBP has decided to change the regularly scheduled dates of the examination,” the agency said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec.16-20 in case they were missed.
The announcement of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal that included halving List 4A tariffs in place since Sept. 1 could do little to change damage done to small audio companies smacked by the previous three tranches of tariffs still in place, they said. Executives said in interviews this month have been hit hard by the duties with little hope other than to wait them out.