On November 1, 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) granted China clearance to levy $3.5 billion of duties on U.S. goods in response to a WTO case where China challenged a wide-range of U.S. anti-dumping duties. The U.S. initially placed anti-dumping duties on China in an effort to fight cheap Chinese goods from flooding the U.S. market. However, the Chinese alleged that the U.S. anti-dumping calculation method of “zeroing”, which has been determined illegal at…

In ruling NY N306374, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determined the classification of a “Mart Cart,” a multi-function cart designed to be used at Farmer Markets, or other shopping venues, where no shopping carts are available, but can also include retail store venues. The multi-function shopping cart is an all-purpose utility cart designed to transport supplies such as groceries, sporting equipment, chairs, and etc. The cart is hand propelled, has 4 wheels, D shape handle, 2…

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is considering possible extension requests for Section 301 List 1 exclusions granted in December 2018 and invites public comments on whether to extend exclusions granted in its December 2018 notice. These will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. USTR is focusing its analysis on whether the particular product remains available only from China. In addressing this factor, commenters should address specifically: Whether the particular product…

The Trump Administration announced that it will suspend $1.3 billion in trade preferences for certain products from Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program citing Thailand’s “failure to adequately provide internationally-recognized worker rights.” GSP provides reduced tariff rates for certain products from certain developing and least developed countries.  Per the office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) announcement, the suspension is slated to take effect in April, 2020.  Because the USTR gave…

In ruling NY N306236, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discusses the classification of a dog training collar device made by Garmin Sport Pro. The device is retail packaged with a correction module, collar, handheld transmitter, and an A/C charging adapter with cable. In use, the correction module is attached to the dog’s neck via the collar, which allows the metal contact points to meet the skin. The handheld transmitter is then used by the owner…

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will soon publish a federal register notice outlining the process for submitting Section 301 exclusion requests for List 4.  The USTR noted that if an exclusion is granted, it will effective from the day the  first tranche of List 4 tariffs (i.e. “Annex A”) came to effect (i.e. from September 1, 2019).  Instead of being effective for one year after after exclusions are granted, as was the case for Lists 1-2,…

Last week, the Department of Justice issued new guidance regarding the application of Exemption 4 to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) following the Supreme Court’s decision this past June in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, 139 S. Ct. 2356 (2019). (Crowell & Moring previously wrote about Argus Leader here.) As a refresher, Exemption 4 allows agencies to withhold documents otherwise responsive to a FOIA request if the documents contain “trade secrets…