Customs and Border Protection (CBP) held its inaugural Green Trade Forum on July 11. Various strategies to incentivize green trade and encourage innovation were discussed. Several commentators mentioned the possibility of utilizing the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to promote green trade by adding tariff breakouts for goods made with environmentally preferred materials such as recycled or organically grown materials. CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller spoke at the event highlighting such CBP actions as a goal to have 50% of the CBP vehicle fleet consist of electric vehicles by 2030, CBP’s goal to digitize any remaining manual and paper-based processes, and their commitment to work with interagency partners, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), inter alia, to prevent natural resource crimes such as illegal deforestation and logging and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. A recording of the forum will be made available soon on the Green Trade Innovation and Incentives Forum page on the CBP website.

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Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom via its Forced Labor Lab released another forced labor resource in the form of a spreadsheet listing over 50,000 companies that operate in the Uyghur Region of China. The spreadsheet also has a section grouping over 35,000 companies under specific industry categories. Sheffield Hallam provides numerous resources on its website relating to forced labor issues in the Uyghur region, including a 50+ page report on automotive supply chain connections to forced labor in the region.

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A letter signed by 66 members of the U.S. House of Representatives was sent to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, urging renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences Program (GSP). The GSP is a trade program that provides nonreciprocal, duty free treatment for certain U.S. imports from eligible developing countries. The program expired in December 2020. Various measures to renew the program have been introduced since its expiration, some with provisions to alter eligibility requirements, however, the program remains expired at present.

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In a recent letter, the National Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to delay for a year the requirement for cosmetic facility registration under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA). MoCRA requires any establishment that manufacturers or processes cosmetic products that are distributed in the United States to assume various new responsibilities as follows:

• Adverse event reporting
• Facility registration
• Product listing
• Product safety substantiation
• FDA Mandatory Recall authority

The present deadline for registration and product listing is December 31, 2023. FDA, however, has not outlined exactly how the registation process will work or what system will be utilized. Therefore, NCBFAA is requesting a year extension to allow the trade more time to prepare.

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The latest chapter in the ongoing efforts to save the endangered vaquita porpoise and the resulting impact on trade with Mexico unfolded on July 17 when the current administration published a letter to Congress outlining what trade sanctions, if any, would be imposed upon the government of Mexico. The letter was mandated by a settlement between the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) and three conservation groups that had filed suit in the Court of International Trade. The conservation groups had been petitioning Interior since 2014 to take action under the Pelly Amendment to the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967 to certify that Mexico was in violation of the act and international agreements by not taking adequate measures to protect the vaquita. Interior agreed to certify that Mexico was not meeting its obligations and that the executive branch must then determine what action to take. The vaquita is a miniature porpoise indigenous only to the Northern Gulf of California. It is protected under several U.S. laws. There are believed to be only 15 or less left in the wild.

The main threat to the vaquita is the use of gillnets to catch the totoaba fish that shares the same habitat with the vaquita. The vaquita can become entangled in these nets and drown. The totoaba are also endangered, however, the swim bladder of the totoaba is highly valued in China for its supposed medicinal properties. Customs and Border Protection in June seized 242 pounds of totoaba bladders attempting to be smuggled through the Port of Nogales. The estimated value was almost 3 million dollars. In the letter, it was stated that no sanctions would be imposed on Mexico at this time, as progress is being made in the ongoing dialogue between the two countries. There certainly will be more to come concerning the fate of the vaquita and how this will impact trade.

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Following a request from several influential members of Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), issued a report in July on the administration of approved Section 232 duty exclusions for steel and aluminum. The review period was from March 2018 to September 2021. Various issues were discovered with the process by which the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) transmits data on approved exclusions to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is done via spreadsheets from which CBP must manually upload the data to the ACE system. CBP also stated that there is not an automated way for them to monitor exclusion usage against the approved total quantities allowed. CBP staff have to monitor the usage and manually deactivate an exclusion that has reached the total quantity limit. As a result of these issues, the GAO found that almost $32 million in duty exclusions were allowed by CBP for imports that had, in fact, exceeded the total quantities authorized under the particular exclusion.

In an appendix to the report, a review of the tariff rate and absolute annual quotas on steel and aluminum that are in effect from the European Union, Korea, Brazil, and Argentina revealed issues as well. CBP staff communicated that these quotas are very complex and laborious to administer, many of which were instituted without allowing adequate time for ACE to be programmed accordingly.

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On July 28, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced adjusted amounts for certain user fees for fiscal year 2024 as mandated by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). The COBRA requires CBP to adjust certain fees to reflect increases in inflation. The changes will be in effect as of October 1, 2023. Some of the listed changes include :

• The Merchandise Processing Fee minimum charge will increase to $31.67 and the maximum charge increases to $614.35.
• The Customs Broker Permit User Fee increases to $174.80.
• The Informal Entry Fee for Automated release increases to $2.53.

On August 16, 1977, the world lost a music icon when rock legend Elvis Presley died at the young age of 42. Though his death will be 46 years ago this August, Elvis is still impacting our culture, as evidenced by the huge success of the recent movie made about his life. It is reported that Elvis sold over 150 million records and appeared in close to 31 movies. To this day, over 500,000 people visit the site of his home at Graceland in Memphis, TN annually. Elvis’ life story of a poor kid who makes it big is still inspiring, however, his tragic end is a reminder that money and fame can come at a heavy price. Long live the King of Rock and Roll!

If you plan on making a visit to Graceland, stop by our branch office located nearby at 7835 Hacks Cross Road in Olive Branch, MS and say hello!

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