On June 5, 2018, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted (Amended) QB 18-122, which provides information on annual absolute quota quantities for Argentina and Brazil steel imports as of June 1, 2018. Additional information may be issued at the end of each quarter for convenience of importers of steel products under absolute quota. On June 4, 2018, CBP posted QB 18-123 Announcement for Steel Mill Articles: South Korea, provides information on annual absolute quota…
On May 31, 2018, the President issued Proclamation of May 31, 2018 – Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States (Aluminum Proclamation) and Proclamation of May 31, 2018 – Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States (Steel Proclamation). The Aluminum proclamation eliminates the exemptions from the 10% tariff granted to Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the EU on behalf of its Member States, in earlier proclamations. In addition, quotas are established for aluminum imports from Argentina and steel imports from Argentina and Brazil, in addition to the quotas previously established for S. Korea. Proclamation 9740 provided that the exemption afforded to steel articles from Canada, Mexico, and the member countries of the EU shall apply only to steel articles of such countries entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, through the close of May 31, 2018, at which time such countries shall be deleted from the article description of heading 9903.80.01 of the HTSUS. The Steel Proclamation does not extend this exemption, so Canada, Mexico and EU countries will now be subject to the 25% steel tariffs.
On May 1, 2018, CBP issued CSMS# 19-000317 Update: Additional Duty on Imports of Steel and Aluminum Articles under Section 232 which contains new filing requirements for imports of aluminum and steel from S. Korea. It is reproduced in full below:
On April 30, 2018, the President signed Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States. The Proclamation states that the United States has agreed in principle with Argentina, Australia, and Brazil on satisfactory alternative means to address the threatened impairment to our national security posed by aluminum articles imported from these countries, so they will remain exempt from the tariff in Proc. 9704 until details are finalized. The United States is continuing discussions…
On April 26, 2018, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued CSMS #18-000307 GSP Goods Subject to Section 201 Measures, which provides additional Information with respect to articles of Thailand or Philippines, which are covered by Section 201 safeguard remedies (certain solar cells, solar panels, washing machines, and washing machine parts). According to the CSMS:
It is being reported that on March 22, 2018, USTR Robert Lighthizer announced at a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the administration would exempt the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea from the 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs set to take effect on March 23, 2018.
On December 27, 2017, the Federal Register published Proclamation 9687 of December 22, 2017 – To Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and for Other Purposes. The Proclamation:
On July 14, 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice providing country-by-country allocations of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018) in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar, certain sugars, syrups and molasses (also known as refined sugar), specialty sugar, and sugar-containing products.
On 15 May 2017, the Boletin Official published Decree 333/2017 (5 May 2017), which reinstates a prohibition (for a period of five years) on the importation for consumption of certain used textile products covered by MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature (NCM)
On 3 March 2017, the Boletin Oficial (Official Bulletin) published Secretary of Commerce Resolution 152-E / 2017 (02-03-17), which modifies Resolution № 5/2015 by eliminating 11 statistical subheadings to the MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature (NCM) from the list of goods subject to the Non-Automatic Licensing requirements. These items will now be subject to the Automatic Licensing regime.