The following is an excerpt from the guidance we received from US Customs on Friday.

“9903.03.12:    Articles the product of Canada as provided in subdivision (b)(1) of U.S. note 51   

50% additional ad valorem rate of duty 

9903.03.13:    Articles the product of Canada as provided in subdivision (b)(2) of U.S. note 51 

50% additional ad valorem rate of duty 

9903.03.14:    Articles the product of Canada as provided in subdivision (b)(3) of U.S. note 51  

50% additional ad valorem rate of duty 

9903.03.15:    Articles of aluminum, of steel or of copper or derivative aluminum or steel articles; passenger vehicles (sedans, sport utility vehicles, crossover utility vehicles, minivans and cargo vans) and light trucks; parts of passenger vehicles (sedans, sport utility vehicles, crossover utility vehicles, minivans and cargo vans) and light trucks; medium- and heavy duty vehicles; parts of medium- and heavy duty vehicles; wood products; semiconductor articles; and patented pharmaceutical articles, as provided in subdivision (c) of U.S. note 51 

0% additional ad valorem rate of duty 

9903.03.16:    Articles of civil aircraft (all aircraft other than military aircraft and unmanned aircraft); their engines, parts and components; their other parts, components and subassemblies; and ground flight simulators and their parts and components the product of Canada, as provided for in subdivision (d) of U.S. note 51 

0% additional ad valorem rate of duty 

Products that are provided for in headings 9903.03.12–9903.03.16 shall continue to be subject to antidumping, countervailing, or other duties, taxes, fees, exactions and charges that apply to such products, as well as to the additional ad valorem rate of duty imposed by this heading.  

Chapter 98 

The additional duty imposed by headings 9903.04.12 to 9903.04.14 shall not apply to goods for which entry is properly claimed under a provision of chapter 98 of the tariff schedule pursuant to applicable regulations of CBP, and whenever CBP agrees that entry under such a provision is appropriate, except for goods entered under subchapter XXIII of chapter 98 of the tariff schedule, subheadings 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50 and 9802.00.60, and heading 9802.00.80.  For subheadings 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50 and 9802.00.60, the additional duty applies to the value of repairs, alterations or processing performed, as described in the applicable subheading.  For heading 9802.00.80, the additional duty applies to the value of the article assembled abroad, less the cost or value of such products of the United States, as described.   

Foreign Trade Zone Any product subject to the duties imposed in these Proclamations that is subject to the additional duty imposed by this action, and that is admitted into a U.S. foreign trade zone, except any product that is eligible for admission under “domestic status” as defined in 19 C.F.R. 146.43, only may be admitted as “privileged foreign status,” as defined in 19 C.F.R. 146.41, and will be subject upon entry for consumption to any ad valorem rate of duty related to the classification under the applicable HTSUS subheading. 

Drawback 

The additional duty imposed by headings 9903.04.12 to 9903.04.14 is subject to drawback. “

Here are the posts from the Federal Register which provide the texts for these tariffs. There were three publication involved each with a separate list of affected tariff numbers.

Tariffs Numbers Affected by the Alcohol Action

Tariff Numbers Affected by the Dairy Action

Tariff Numbers Affected by the Motor Vehicles Action

We will continue to monitor and post any updates when new information is received.

For details, please see the Federal Register notice covering this action.

The following is an excerpt from the notice providing a broad overview of the tariffs and exemptions:

“Section 1.  Tariffs and Exemptions.  (a)  Except as otherwise provided in this memorandum, the Trade Representative shall impose the following tariff rates on all goods of the economy for which an act, policy, or practice was found actionable under section 301:

(i)  10 percent tariff rate:  The Trade Representative shall impose a tariff of 10 percent on goods of Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and Trinidad and Tobago.

(ii)  Tariff rate of 10 percent or 12.5 percent, net of MFN rate:  For a product of the European Union or Taiwan, where such product’s MFN tariff is less than 10 percent, the Trade Representative shall impose a section 301 tariff pursuant to these investigations so that the sum of the MFN tariff and the section 301 tariff shall be 10 percent, and where such product’s MFN tariff is greater than or equal to 10 percent, the Trade Representative shall impose a section 301 tariff of zero.  For a product of Japan, Korea, or Switzerland, where such product’s MFN tariff is less than 12.5 percent, the Trade Representative shall impose a section 301 tariff pursuant to these investigations so that the sum of the MFN tariff and the tariff imposed pursuant to these investigations shall be 12.5 percent, and where such product’s MFN tariff is greater than or equal to 12.5 percent, the Trade Representative shall impose a section 301 tariff of zero.  Capping total duties in this manner is feasible, consistent with the terms of the Agreements on Reciprocal Trade or similar arrangements, and appropriate to encourage these economies to fulfill commitments regarding forced labor import prohibitions or to enact and effectively enforce such a prohibition.

(iii)  12.5 percent tariff rate:  For goods of all other investigated economies, the Trade Representative”

We will provide an update as further information is received.

Here is the notice in Federal Register providing details of the action. In the notice is a list of all the tariff numbers that will be affected by this action.

We will update you when more information becomes available.

For further details, please see the proclamations listed below:

Alcohol

Dairy

Motor Vehicles

This situation is developing and may change as time goes on. We will post updates as more information becomes available.

ST&R TRADE REPORT – Liquidated entries – File suite to secure tariff refunds

Please see the attached PDF document for full explanation and methods to work with your broker for re-instatement of an infrequent importers tax number and account.

Inactive for Entry Purposes (CBP-253) & CSMS# 69056621

CBP filed its status report early today, March 31, in Atmus Filtration to the CIT. It’s an important one.

Here are some key points regarding what Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) “Phase 1” will and won’t be doing:

•  CAPE Phase 1 will be limited to entries that “are either unliquidated or for which the 90-day voluntary reliquidation period under 19 U.S.C. § 1501 has not expired,” despite Judge Eaton’s latest amended order extending relief to finally liquidated entries. However, CBP says that it “intends to expand CAPE to process finally liquidated entries in a subsequent phase of development.”

•  CAPE Phase 1 will accept entries where the liquidation status is “Suspended,” “Extended,” or “Under Review,” as well as warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries, but in these instances, refunds will be provided in the normal course upon liquidation, rather than immediately. This includes entries subject to AD/CVD.

• The following categories of entries will not be accepted for CAPE Phase 1: entries flagged for reconciliation; entries designated on a drawback claim; entries covered by an open protest; entries not filed in ACE/entries without a liquidation status in ACE; entries subject to AD/CVD for which Commerce has issued liquidation instructions that are pending liquidation under 19 U.S.C. § 1504(d).

• “CBP will take up to 45 days from its acceptance of a CAPE Declaration to review and liquidate the validated entry summaries identified on the CAPE Declaration, unless there is a compliance concern necessitating further review.”

For subsequent phases of CAPE, CBP says it expects to develop the following functionalities, among others: “Enhanced tools and validations to ensure compliance”; “Tools to further streamline revenue enforcement in situations in which there is an outstanding bill for non-IEEPA duties associated with an entry included on a CAPE Declaration”; “The capability to process entries for which liquidation is final”; and “The capability to process non-[ABI] entries where no entry summary lines exist.”

A few key takeaways. First, none of this changes our advice to continue protesting and consider filing a refund suit. Nothing in the status update addresses the protestability issue or whether suit is required. And although entries with an open protest won’t be covered in Phase 1, neither will finally liquidated entries. It is unclear whether importers can withdraw their protests and expect to be able to take part in CAPE Phase 1.

Second, this update suggests that importers should wait until after the 90-day voluntary reliquidation window to protest, just in case CAPE comes out in time for CBP to process these entries. CBP claims that if there’s at least 10 days left on the 90-day voluntary reliquidation clock, it can process them in time. However, waiting to file can mean missing timely protests altogether.

And third, CBP’s status update makes clear that it will be spot-checking entries for compliance issues and seeking offset on refunds. Again, another reason for clients to make sure that their entries are in order and that they have supporting documentation for their classification, value, COO, etc.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to monitor the CIT and CBP actions related to the IEEPA refunds and provide updates to our members, as available.

NBCBA_Carrier_Notification

Lately, CBP has been issuing penalties and warnings to Customs Brokers and Trucklines (carriers) for their reporting of incorrect or inaccurate manifest quantities. We tender this information to you in hopes that you will assist your carriers or work with them to provide usable quantities with which the can use to prepare their inward cargo manifest.

Pallets / Skids:  Both Pallets and Skids are not normally a usable quantity type for a carrier to use when making their inward cargo manifest with CBP.  In fact the word “Skid” is frequently mistaken as another explanation for a pallet.  But by CBP laws and regulations the proper usage of the word SKID is when you have a item, machine or component physically and somewhat permanently mounted and adhered to the skid to assist in the machines transportation.

By law carriers are required to manifest their quantity at their LOWEST EXTERNAL PACKAGING UNIT.  On the attached memo our office prepared for you use and instructions, and within the attached ACE e-manifest guidelines you’ll readily see reference to the proper way for a carrier to report their quantity such as:

240 cases containing 2400 cans on 5 pallets:  In this scenario carriers are to report 240 cases (not 5 pallets, and not 2400 cans).  Carriers need to manifest at the lowest external packaging count.

Another Example:

A shipment consists of 15 loose pieces of machinery, 1 crate of machinery parts, and 5 packages of miscellaneous machinery parts. Our suggested manifesting quantity we feel the carrier should report to CBP is; 15 + 1 + 5 = 21 packages.

Carrier Manifesting Assistance Memo

ACE Truck Manifest User Guide

As always, we will keep you informed of any changes as we become aware of them.

Thank you.