TradeLane

As many of our readers are aware, on April 19^th, 2020, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the postponement of duties for formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption in March and April 2020 for importers experiencing significant financial hardship due to COVID-19. 

After what seemed like a relatively calm few weeks in International Trade (relatively speaking), the winds have suddenly picked up, catching many off guard this morning and wondering if we were simply in the eye of the storm all this time. So, what happened? 

The dynamics of trade are changing.

Perhaps this is nothing new, trade has always evolved and changed, but I think we would be hard pressed to find an instance in modern peacetime when trade has been asked to adapt so quickly. TPP, Brexit, NAFTA, and steel tariffs, which would have been the biggest stories just months ago, are now muffled background noise to the rhetoric of a Trade War between two of the world’s most important economies.

More news on the US trade remedies front. 

Steel (25%) and aluminum (10%) duties under Section 232 that were initiated on National Security grounds, appear to be even more onerous as the Trump administration has announced that products targeted for Section 232 advanced duties will lose the benefit of GSP trade preference. 

There is great concern that other free trade programs may be similarly affected on Section 232 products. 

Expect supply chain disruptions, higher costs, and litigation.

On February 24, 2016, the president signed into law the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA). Among its key provisions is the very long awaited liberalization of the U.S. Drawback program. Although its official enactment will occur on Feb. 24, 2018 and the regulations governing the new program have yet to be written, summarized below are its key provisions along with commentary by yours truly: