The Ocean Shipping Reform Act is part of the House China package, and a Senate version is going to have a markup next week. House co-sponsor Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said the bill's advocates need senators "to be able to punch this into the end zone."

The government can seek reclassification of an importer's merchandise in court at a higher duty rate, even when CBP didn't previously pursue the rate increase against the importer, DOJ said in March 15 brief in support of its counterclaim in a tariff classification suit brought by Cyber Power -- which says the counterclaim sets a dangerous precedent (Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00200).

The Senate will need to amend the House China package with upper chamber language and send it back to the lower chamber in order to begin conferencing the two measures, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said March 17. Calling it a procedural step, he noted a “small band of Republicans” is standing in the way of “quick action.”

A bill that ends Russia's and Belarus's ability to export goods to the U.S. under the same tariff treatment as most of the rest of the world passed the House 424-8. Only Cuba and North Korea are subject to Column 2 tariffs; there is an embargo on imports from North Korea, and the U.S. imports almost nothing from Cuba. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said he intends to send this bill and the ban on oil, natural gas and coal imports from Russia, to the Senate at the same time.

The Forced Labor Working Group (FLWG), an ad hoc group of retail and fashion industries, “proposes a holistic and collaborative multi-faceted framework” for enforcing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) “that will meet U.S. jurisprudence and due process requirements.” The proposal includes keeping a public database of bad actors and the tainted import goods they’re associated with, the FLWG said, in docket DHS-2022-0001. The group was created by the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the U.S. Fashion Industry Association.

House leaders had thought there could be a vote to remove Russia's permanent normal trade relations status on March 16, but both the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee and the majority leader, who schedules bills for a vote, said that text that is accepted by both parties is nearly done. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told International Trade Today during a press call that the text just needs to be finished so that there can be "a chance to brief our members in the House before it goes to a vote."

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are negotiating to begin conference on the China package this work period, a Senate aide said by email. The work period is scheduled to end April 8.

CBP should recognize imports of goods under the $800 de minimis threshold as entries, as a way to help prevent low value goods made with forced labor from coming into the U.S., the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to DHS on implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. "By treating the commercial de minimis exemption instead as an entry of merchandise, the Government can continue to promote the administrative ease that section 321 affords legitimate gift and personal use shipments, while also ensuring goods imported under the commercial de minimis exemption are eligible and admissible and pose no threat to our country’s economy, safety, health, or security and particularly are free of forced labor," the trade group said.

The Commerce Department hasn't granted a steel or aluminum tariff exclusion since Dec. 17, 2021, and its last denial was posted Oct. 29, 2021. A lobbyist in the trade world said he has unsuccessfully tried to get to the bottom of why the Bureau of Industry and Security doesn't seem to be processing the applications at the moment. He said the Commerce Department told one office on Capitol Hill "there is no problem" and "that it's all functioning normally."