The Senate Finance Committee is talking about liberalizing trade with Ukraine, according to Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who represents many Ukrainian-Americans in his state. He told International Trade Today at the Capitol on April 27 that the proposals being discussed might be broader than just lifting Section 232 tariffs on Ukrainian steel. Lifting 25% tariffs on Ukrainian steel was argued for by Senate Finance Committee member Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
A wide variety of trade groups told the Commerce Department that while they know the administration doesn't intend to tackle tariffs as part of its negotiations with Asian countries, they think offering to lower tariffs on U.S. goods would be the best way to get ambitious commitments in the region, and many said reconsidering the re-named Trans-Pacific Partnership is better than the conceived Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
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Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., a longtime advocate for free trade, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., are asking the Biden administration to lift Section 232 tariffs on steel. In a letter sent April 5, the two said that while the war has severely disrupted Ukraine's ability to export steel, "when the war ends and Ukraine's economy reopens, Ukraine's steel industry will be an integral part of its economic recovery." They said that Ukraine is the 13th largest steel producer globally, and removing the tariffs on its steel would help Ukraine rebuild its economy.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to argue against including rewrites to antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws, and calls for tariff relief, John Murphy, the lead advocate on trade for the group, blogged about their trade priorities.
A recent Court of International Trade decision says domestic industry can’t use the interested party petition process to challenge individual entries, and are instead limited to challenges of how CBP treats the category of merchandise as a whole, customs lawyer Larry Richardson of Barnes Richardson said in a blog post April 4.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2208 on April 1, containing 531 Automated Broker Interface records and 114 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes changes related to an agreement on Section 232 tariffs between the U.S. and Japan, as well as "updates to the PGA Message Set. Participating Government Agency (PGA) indicators for FDA, FWS, and AMS were updated," CBP said.
CBP released guidance on a new tariff rate quota on Japanese steel April 1, the date that the TRQ takes effect. Under the quarterly TRQ, agreed to in February as part of a deal on Section 232 tariffs (see 2202070064), steel subject to the tariffs entered under quota will be free of any Section 232 duty, CBP said. “Subject entries that enter after each quota fills are subject to Section 232 duties under HTS 9903.80.01,” it said.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai endorsed the Level the Playing Act during a four-hour hearing in front of the House Ways and Means Committee after one of its House sponsors noted the House and the Senate are about to go to conference, and the proposal to rewrite antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws is going to be on the table.