Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., joined by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., has proposed that most countries in Central and South America should be invited to join USMCA, and that before that can be negotiated, the countries should be added to the Caribbean Basin Trade Preference Area.
Members of the House of Representatives voted 365-65 on the second day of the session to create a Select Committee on China. The committee, which will be led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., will be bipartisan.
The Treasury Department issued a white paper on how it will shape proposed guidance for electric vehicle batteries and critical minerals, with some specifics on how it will define the critical mineral/battery component dividing line but deferring the definition of a free trade agreement.
The EPA is proposing to eliminate a de minimis exemption from reporting requirements for chemicals listed by the agency as chemicals of special concern. The agency’s Dec. 5 proposed rule, which also would add 180 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the list, would “make the de minimis exemption unavailable for purposes of supplier notification requirements to downstream facilities for all chemicals on the list of chemicals of special concern, which also includes certain persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals like lead, mercury, and dioxins,” the EPA said in a news release. “This change will help ensure that purchasers of mixtures and trade name products containing these chemicals are informed of their presence in mixtures and products they purchase.” Comments are due by Feb. 3, 2023.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will not move forward with a proposal under the 21st Century Customs Framework (21CCF) to make ocean vessel manifest data automatically confidential, according to a report from the 21CCF task force released by the COAC Nov. 28. The provision is one of several listed by the task force in the report that the COAC will no longer advance after recent discussions with CBP.
Lab testing commissioned by Bloomberg News showed two instances in which garments shipped to the U.S. by fast fashion giant Shein were made using cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, according to a Nov. 20 report by Bloomberg. The report said Shein typically ships individually to customers in shipments valued at less than the $800 de minimis level, so the company’s apparel is able to avoid the scrutiny CBP applies to larger shipments. A German lab conducted the testing on two batches of garments from Shein, finding using a stable isotope analysis that the cotton in the garments matched samples of cotton from Xinjiang. CBP did not immediately comment.
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Major automakers and battery makers disagreed about how granular the EV battery supply chain rules should be, but most agreed that diverging from the battery timeline requirement, which begins in 2023, would allow far more vehicles to qualify for tax credits, thereby accelerating adoption of cleaner cars, trucks and SUVs.
On passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, electric vehicles manufactured overseas were instantly disqualified from the $7,500 tax credit. In January, even cars manufactured in the U.S. will be eligible only if they are below certain price thresholds, and meet battery component local content thresholds. Those thresholds ramp up in 2024, as do those for the critical minerals in batteries.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a free-trade-skeptical advocacy group, criticized CBP for issuing a report that said the value of goods that entered under de minimis in the previous fiscal year was $39,876,651,152 (see 2210180031). The group's trade counsel, Charles Benoit, wrote on Oct. 26 that CBP never disclosed a dollar figure before "because CBP does not know the true value for any period of time. They do not know because the majority of de minimis shipments arrive via international mail, and most international mail shipments do not contain electronic data."