Trigger Levels for Additional Duties Updated
The Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has updated the quantity-based trigger levels for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture. This notice also includes the relevant period applicable for trigger levels on each of the affected products, which include beef, mutton, cheese, dairy products, peanuts and peanut butter, sugar and sugar products, cocoa powder, chocolate crumb, infant formula, mixes and doughs, condiments and seasonings, ice cream, animal feed, and cotton.
Under the WTO agreement, additional import duties may be imposed on imports of products subject to tariffs as a result of the Uruguay Round if the price of an individual shipment of imported products falls below the average price for similar goods imported during the years 1986-1988 by a specified percentage. It also permits additional duties to be imposed if the volume of imports of an article exceeds the sum of (a) a base trigger level multiplied by the average of the last three years of available import data and (b) the change in yearly consumption in the most recent year for which data are available. These additional duties may not be imposed on quantities for which minimum or current access commitments were made during the Uruguay Round negotiations, and only one type of safeguard (price or quantity) may be applied at any given time to an article.
Dairy TRQ Licenses and Fees
FAS has announced that it will charge a $325 fee (down from $350) for the 2027 tariff-rate quota year for each license it issues to a person or firm authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles that are subject to TRQs set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. These articles (which include butter, dried milk, and various cheeses) may only be entered into the U.S. at the in-quota tariff rates by or for the account of a person or firm to whom such licenses have been issued and only in accordance with the terms and conditions of the regulation. Licenses are issued on a calendar year basis and each license authorizes the holder to import a specified quantity and type of dairy article from a specified country of origin.
Separately, FAS has set forth revised appendices to the dairy TRQ licensing regulation for the 2027 quota year reflecting the cumulative annual transfers for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the licensing authority. Whenever a historical license (Appendix 1) is not issued to an applicant or is permanently surrendered or revoked, the amount of that license must be transferred to the list of non-historical licenses in Appendix 2.
Cabbage from Korea
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is accepting comments through Oct. 2 on a draft pest risk assessment regarding a request from the government of Korea to authorize the expansion of its existing market access for fresh Chinese cabbage into all the U.S. Currently such imports are permitted only into Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
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