CBP detains suspected aluminum from Xinjiang.

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This past week, US Customs and Border Protection issued a detention notice to AP Moller-Maersk A/S under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, signed by US President Joe Biden in 2021. The UFLPA requires companies to document goods from or produced in Xinjiang are not produced using forced labor.

Since 2021, CBP focused on cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon from the Xinjiang region and this recent detention notice now includes aluminum to the list.

The UFLPA requires companies to perform due diligence of their supply chain and the implementation of compliance programs to ensure the products they import do not contain any cotton, tomatoes, polysilicon and aluminum that may have been produced by forced labor.

Contact David Hsu if you or your company needs a compliance program or want to evaluate their supply chain by phone or text anytime at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com; dh@gjatradelaw.com.

Easy to understand version of the Chinese billionaire’s scam to avoid paying duties on aluminum.

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Who is involved:
Chinese billionaire: Zhongtian Liu
His company: China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd.
Key players according to investigators: Zhaohua Chen, Xiang Chun Shao, Perfectus Aluminum Inc, Perfectus Aluminum Acquisitions, four LLC’s that owned the warehouses. A business agent named Po-Chi

What was he importing:
Aluminum pallets that appeared to be “finished” to avoid duties on unfinished aluminum extrusions. The pallets were “spot-welded” to appear to be finished pallets.

Purpose of scam:
Unfinished aluminum is subject to a high rate of duty (up to 400%)

How he scammed Customs:
He imported the aluminum as finished aluminum pallets. Finished aluminum pallets have a lower duty.

How did the scam work?
1. Import aluminum pallets instead of extruded aluminum. Manufactured pallets avoid the duties versus extruded aluminum.
2. The pallets were then stored in warehouses.
3. The pallets were “sold” to entities owned by the billionaire to inflate sales and deceive investors.
4. Investigators believed Liu was going to build a smelting plant to melt the palllets then sell as raw aluminum. The aluminum imported was a higher grade and used in applications such as surgical tools.

How big ($) was the scam?
A total of 2.2 million pallets were imported from 2011 to 2014.
Customs believe the billionaire avoided paying $1.8 billion.

When was the scam discovered?
Started in 2017 with notice of the charges released this week.

What will happen to the people charged?
Probably not much, Liu and the defendants are in China and the US cannot extradite them (no treaty with China).

If you have any questions about limiting your tariff liability the legal way – contact experienced trade attorney David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com, dh@gjatradelaw.com.

Trump issues order for agencies to buy US made steel, aluminum and cement.

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U.S. President Donald J. Trump. Official portrait from whitehouse.gov

U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed a new executive order late January to further his “Buy America” initiative. The new executive order encourages government agencies to purchase a wider range of US made materials for infrastructure projects such as steel, aluminum and cement.

President Trump’s first “Buy America” executive order was signed in 2017, called the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order.

The executive order also requires the head of each agency to submit a report to President Trump identifying new opportunities to use Buy America rules. The reports are due by May 31st.

Full text of the executive order can be found here.

India postpones retaliatory tariffs on US goods until January 31st.

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According to the Economic Times, India has postponed imposition of duties worth $235 million on American goods until January 31, 2019.

The retaliatory tariffs were in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. The start date of India’s retaliatory tariffs was set for tomorrow (December 17th).

The new tariffs include a 120% tariff on US chickpeas, 70% tariff on chana and 40% on lentils.

The US and India are currently negotiating a settlement on various issues – India would like greater access to the US market for their agriculture, automobile, parts and engineering while the US seeks greater access for farm and medical devices.

Check back for the latest news as they become available. If you have any questions how your company’s exports to India may be impacted or if you have questions on how to save on steel and aluminum duties from India – contact experienced trade attorney David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

EU approves counter tariffs against US steel and aluminum.

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In response to US tariffs on steel and aluminum, all members of the EU unanimously approved a plan to impose import duties on $3.3 billion worth of US products of steel and aluminum.

Further details will be released in 3 days as they are available and duties are expected to be in place later this month or early July (the next scheduled meeting is June 20th).

Questions, call David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

 

It’s official – US issues trade tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU, Canada and Mexico.

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The Whitehouse issued two presidential proclamations that placed 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs on imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

The full proclamations can be found here for steel and here for aluiminum.

If you have any questions on how these new tariffs will impact your business or what options you may have – contact experienced antidumping attorney David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com for a free evaluation.

Trump delays decision on steel and aluminium tariffs.

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A little background – back in March 2018, President Trump imposed worldwide tariffs of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum. Countries such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union were temporarily exempted from these tariffs.

Later in April, the US gave South Korea a permanent exemption from these tariffs in exchange for a 30% reduction of SK exports of steel to the United States.

One country not exempted was China, and as posted previously on this blog, China retaliated with their own duties on many US imports to the middle kingdom.

Fast forward to May 1st and the current administration has extended negotiations on steel and aluminium tariffs for an additional 30 days with Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Tentative agreements have been reached with Argentina, Brazil and Australia.

Check back here for more details as they become available.

EU wants to participate in the US-China steel dispute at the WTO.

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As previously posted on this blog, China requested consultations with the WTO regarding the US import tariffs on steel and aluminum. Requesting a consultation with the WTO is the first stage in the dispute process with the WTO and now the EU asked on April 23rd to join the dispute.

It is important to note that one week from now, President Trump will decide whether these tariffs would apply to imports from the EU. A temporary exemption from the 25% duty on steel and 10% duty on aluminum was granted for the EU until May 1st. Temporary exemptions were also granted to Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina and Brazil. South Korean imports have been exempted indefinitely.

In addition to the EU, Hong Kong, Russia, India and Thailand have also filed requests to join the consultations. Check back for more information as it becomes available.

 

South Korea allows for increases on US auto imports in exchange for U.S. Steel tariff exemption.

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According to Reuters, the US and South Korea agreed on Monday (March 27th, 2018) to revise the KORUS bilateral free trade deal. As part of the deal, South Korea would improve access to U.S. automakers and in exchange the US would exempt Korean steel from the new Section 232 duty rates.

President Trump has always claimed the current KORUS agreement was “horrible” and lead to a doubling of the U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea since 2012. While the terms have not yet been announced, the agreement likely makes South Korea is the first US ally to receive an indefinite exemption but still subject to quotas.

In addition to South Korea, Trump has temporarily excluded other major US trading partners Canada, Mexico, Australia and the European Union from higher U.S. import duties on steel and aluminium.

Check back for the latest news and as always, please contact David Hsu at 832.896.6288 or attorney.dave@yahoo.com for all your trade and international law questions.

Cargo Systems Messaging Service – Additional Duties on Imports of Steel and Aluminum under Section 232 – March 22, 2018.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released Cargo Systems Messaging Service Number 18-000240 with additional information regarding the imports of steel and aluminum under Section 232.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact David Hsu at 832.896.6288 or by email at dhsu@givensjohnston.com.

CSMS #18-000240

Title:
Additional Duty on Imports of Steel and Aluminum Articles under Section 232 Date: 3/22/2018 11:39:25 PM To: Automated Broker Interface, ACE Portal Accounts, ACE Reports, Air Manifest, New ACE Programming, Ocean Manifest, Partner Government Agencies, Rail Manifest, Trade Policy Updates, Truck Manifest  Additional Duty on Imports of Steel and Aluminum Articles under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962

BACKGROUND:
On March 8, 2018, the President issued Proclamations 9704 and 9705 on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), providing for additional import duties for steel mill and aluminum articles, effective March 23, 2018.  See the Federal Register, 83 FR 11619 and 83 FR 11625, March 15, 2018.  On March 22, 2018, the President issued Proclamations on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States.

These duty requirements are effective with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018.

COMMODITY:
Steel mill and aluminum articles, as specified in the Presidential Proclamations.

COUNTRIES COVERED:
March 23, 2018 through April 30, 2018:  All countries of origin except Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, South Korea, Brazil and  member countries of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).

As of May 1, 2018:  All countries of origin.

Please note this is based on the country of origin, not the country of export.

ENTRY SUMMARY FILING INSTRUCTIONS:
Steel Products In addition to reporting the regular Chapters 72 & 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classification for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the following HTS classification for imported merchandise subject to the additional duty:9903.80.01 (25 percent ad valorem additional duty for steel mill products) Aluminum Products In addition to reporting the regular Chapter 76 of the HTS classification for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the following HTS classification for imported merchandise subject to the additional duty: 9903.85.01 (10 percent ad valorem additional duty for aluminum products)

Importers and filers failing to submit the required Chapter 99 HTS classifications with the entry summary information for imports under the specified Chapter 72, 73, and 76

HTS classifications for the covered countries of origin will receive the following reject messages:

E1 IQ10    LINE SUBJECT TO QUOTA

E1 FQ09   QUOTA NOT ALLOWED FOR ENTRY TYPE

E1 FQ05   BANNED IMPORT

E1 RF998 TRANSACTION DATA REJECTED

Note:  Quota is not in effect, but this ACE functionality is being used to validate entry summary transmissions and reject when validations determine the data is missing the required chapter 99 number.

Importers or filers receiving one of the reject messages above, who have researched their classification and dates to confirm the entry summaries were incorrectly rejected, should contact their assigned Client Representative with the results of their review.

Additional Information
Any steel or aluminum article subject to the Section 232 duties that is admitted into U.S. foreign trade zones on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018, must be admitted as “privileged foreign status” as defined in 19 CFR 146.41, and will be subject upon entry for consumption to any ad valorem rates of duty related to the classification under the applicable HTSUS subheading.

Any steel or aluminum article that was admitted into U.S. foreign trade zones under “privileged foreign status” as defined in 19 CFR 146.41, prior to 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018, will likewise be subject upon entry for consumption to any ad valorem rates of duty related to the classification under applicable HTSUS subheadings imposed by the Proclamations.

The merchandise covered by the additional duties may also be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties.

CBP will issue additional guidance on entry requirements for any products excluded from these measures, as soon as information is available.  CBP will also issue updated guidance if there are any changes to these measures, including any changes to exempted countries and any new requirements, such as quota requirements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:For more information, please refer to the Presidential Proclamations on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States, Federal Register, 83 FR 11619 and 83 FR 11625, March 15, 2018; and the March 22, 2018 Presidential Proclamations on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States.

Questions related to Section 232 entry filing requirements should be emailed to adcvdissues-hq@cbp.dhs.gov.

Questions from the importing community concerning ACE rejections should be referred to their Client Representative.