The United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) is currently slated to take effect beginning on July 1, 2020. A review of the text of the USMCA reveals that USMCA retains many elements of the North American Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), while displacing others with new or enhanced rules.
At the time of this writing, it’s not exactly another day in paradise, over 103,000 Americans are no longer with us, there are an estimated 1,500,000 confirmed U.S. cases of the coronavirus, and I am also ballparking at 40,000,000+ unemployment claims filed at the time of this writing, because just two weeks ago it was at 36,500,000.
The USMCA is about to kick into full force on July 1st. Is your chemical company ready? Overall, if you’ve been issuing NAFTA certificates in the past and are already familiar with that process, you might be surprised to find that the USMCA process might allow for more of your goods to qualify than NAFTA did
USMCA (T-MEC as it is formally called in Mexico) will enter into force on July 1, 2020. At least this is what the government of the Party members, the United States, Mexico and Canada have announced. In this case, operations occurring after this date will no longer be covered by NAFTA as this treaty will be terminated and consequently replaced by the USMCA.
One of the major changes to come out of this trade agreement is elimination of the NAFTA Certificate of Origin. Instead, the USMCA replaces the Certificate of Origin with a certification. In this regard, the USMCA will more closely resemble other free trade agreements, such as the Korean and Australian, which also utilize a certification.
Last month, we presented a webinar on University Export Controls and received an overwhelming positive response on an area of compliance that is sometimes overlooked, especially when it comes to the collaboration between a school, the private sector, and the government.
On March 24, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published Cargo Systems Messaging Service # 42133823 “Entry Summary Guidance for Pipe Spools from Multiple Countries of Origin” (the Message). The Message provided:
This article outlines the various mechanisms available to companies that encounter problems with the implementation and operation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that officially replaces NAFTA on July 1, 2020. While the new agreement provides many of the same mechanisms as NAFTA, there have been significant changes.
On May 4th, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) intelligence service issued an unclassified four page report which stated in part:
[DHS Intelligence Service] assess the Chinese Government [“Peoples Republic of China” (“PRC”)] intentionally concealed the severity of COVID-19 from the International community in early January while it stockpiled medical supplies by both increasing imports and decreasing exports,” the May 1 DHS report states. (emphasis added).[1]
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has presented unique challenges for the U.S. supply chain, and for the U.S. economy as a whole. Front and center is the shortage of critical medical equipment and personal protective equipment (“PPE”), including ventilators, respirators, masks, gloves, swabs and other related equipment.
The month of March has brought a deluge of cancellations of international conferences, travel and severely affected markets around the world, all due to the spread of “COVID-19” – the newest strain of the “Coronavirus” which was first discovered last December in Wuhan, China.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has officially been ratified by all three North American parties, now what? For one thing, the United States, Canada, and Mexico must develop uniform regulations with an effective date prior to, or on June 1, 2020 which is the official implementation date of the USMCA.
I know, I know, some would say, “Are you kidding? They started this pandemic”? Yes, it did start in Wuhan, in China, but finger pointing at this time is not going to help either of us rebound from the economic impact that it has caused both countries.
Living in the current somewhat apocalyptic world, one would be justified in asking the proverbial question, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
Determining the appropriate value for merchandise that you import can be a tricky task. In general, you need to start by determining the basis of appraisement that is appropriate for your situation. I’ll list them below but note that you should try to use the first one.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has recently opened a comment period to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The USTR is inviting interested parties to submit a comment explaining whether a product currently covered by the Section 301 tariff action is needed for the medical and public health response against the virus.
Your company exports to Canada and Mexico. So:
So long as you can produce a Certificate of Origin everything is taken care of
NAFTA and USMCA are import things, so if you are an exporter you have no concerns
The importers in Canada and Mexico are the only ones who have to deal with the requirements
Since the emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S. beginning in February of 2020, there is general uncertainty over how the pandemic could affect the regulatory landscape, including regulations relating to U.S. sanctions and export controls. A review of the actions taken to date suggest that little has changed with respect to U.S. economic sanctions.
The window for filing a request for exclusions from the tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on goods from China closed in late January. However, the process of granting exclusions is unfolding very slowly.
The U.S. government, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), has recently put an emphasis on preventing forced labor in global supply chains. For instance, On March 11, 2020, the House Rules Committee introduced a new bill that would create a rebuttable presumption regarding forced labor in Xinjiang, China.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry is feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as individuals and companies are trying to adjust to coronavirus recommendations. While U.S. companies remain operational, many have experienced supply chain disruptions leading to concerns that contractual requirements will not be met.
Wednesday, February 16th, 2022
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. CST
Holiday Inn IAH
15222 JFK Blvd.
Houston, TX 77032
The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology recently voted to advance the America Competes Act of 2022 “the Act.” This comes after the Senate passed its version of the bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, in June of 2021. The focus of the Act is to strengthen America’s scientific and technological activities in the 21st Century, in order to be able to compete with China in these critical fields in the future.
Currently there are close to 400 active antidumping cases involving nearly 40 countries. The cases cover a wide range of products including steel commodity products and steel articles (number one category), chemical products, other metal commodities and articles, plastics and rubber products, food products, paperboard and manufactured articles. Key countries subject to ADD are China (number one country by far), Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
The year is 2022, and companies are turning over a new leaf, making a concerted effort to become compliant with U.S. Customs laws and practices. Seemingly, there are no downsides to conducting a comprehensive Customs compliance review and submitting a Prior Disclosure under 19 U.S.C. § 1592(c)(4) and 19 C.F.R. § 162.74.
There are new tariff classifications for machinery under Chapter 84 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). The changes to Chapter 84, as well as many other areas of the HTSUS, took effect on January 27, 2022, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 10326 (December 23, 2021). Many of the changes to Chapter 84 were made to keep up with technological innovations and commercial use.
Many factors have contributed to reshaping and redefining Vietnam’s growing dynamic economy, which had once been coined by the United States as an underdeveloped country but is aggressively emerging to a developing country status.
Imagine your company imports from a vendor in Vietnam and sells them at a competitive margin in the U.S. Business is so-so until the Department of Commerce conducts an Antidumping or Countervailing Duty (“AD/CVD”) review that encompasses your company or its foreign vendor and determines the origin of your goods to be China, which causes you to owe backlogged AD/CVD at rates over 100% ad valorem for the past year.
February 27th – March 2nd, 2022
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. CST
Manchester Grand Hyatt
1 Market Place
San Diego, CA
Friday March 4, 2022
12:00 – 2:10 CST
Live Video Broadcast
March 8th – 10th, 2022
Virtual Conference Only
