Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report

Regardless of the mandatory dates, CBP states that filers should be filing all available electronic entries and entry summaries, with or without participating government agency data, in ACE now.

A White House fact sheet notes that these measures aim to support the efforts of Argentinean President Mauricio Macri, who “has quickly implemented economic reforms to begin addressing economic imbalances and deepen Argentina’s integration with the global economy” since he took office in December.

Industry believes that additional coordination and consultation with all affected trade stakeholders is needed for further development and implementation of the RAM system to ensure that legitimate commerce and entries of compliant products are not stopped or unnecessarily delayed during the CPSC’s import screening process.

The temporary general license will restore, through June 30, the license requirements, license review policies and license exceptions under the EAR that applied prior to March 8 to exports, reexports and transfers (in-country) to these two entities.

The rule appears to be an attempt to avoid the $472 million in sanctions Mexico is seeking WTO authorization to impose (in the form of higher duties on an as yet unidentified list of U.S. exports) after a WTO compliance panel found that U.S. dolphin-safe tuna labeling regulations revised in 2013 are still inconsistent with WTO rules.

The sanctions would take the form of additional tariffs on Mexican imports of U.S. goods, although the specific items to be targeted have not yet been identified.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on March 15 issued a fact sheet highlighting the many benefits that the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement continues to provide four years after it entered into force to American businesses, workers and farmers. By contrast, the Coalition for a Prosperous America claimed that the agreement has significantly worsened the bilateral trade deficit with Korea.

President Obama issued an executive order March 16 that implements the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 as well as a March 2 resolution by the United Nations Security Council that imposed new sanctions and tightened some existing measures against North Korea following its Jan. 6 nuclear test and a Feb. 7 launch seen as a test of ballistic missile technology. 

Dozens of organizations representing the agriculture, forest products, manufacturing and recycling industries told the Coast Guard March 14 that they support the agency’s interpretation of a container weight rule scheduled to take effect July 1. 

Two federal agencies are taking action to allow the importation of Cuban-origin software, authorize additional business and physical presence in Cuba, further facilitate travel to Cuba for authorized purposes, relax the rules for vessels on temporary sojourn to Cuba, and expand the range of authorized financial transactions. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has approved a new federal safety standard for portable hook-on chairs and has amended the existing standard for architectural glazing materials. The new requirements will enter into force six months from the date of publication of a final rule in the Federal Register in the case of portable hook-on chairs, and 30 days from such date in the case of architectural glazing materials.