Inspections and imports of fresh avocado from Mexico have resumed, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Feb. 18. The agency previously suspended avocado export program operations in the Mexican state of Michoacan, the only Mexican state currently authorized for the export of avocados, on Feb. 11 after a threatening phone call was received by an APHIS official conducting an inspection (see 2202140039).
CBP is requesting comments on new data elements meant to help with vetting members of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, it said in a notice. "Additional information is being collected based on CTPAT’s new vetting process as the prior vetting process was found to be insufficient in being able to identify violators," the agency said. "Not collecting this information would result in companies that are high risk for committing illegal activity to be allowed into, and continue to be part of, the CTPAT program." CBP’s National Targeting Center found the previous "vetting process to be ineffective in capturing high risk companies," resulting in such companies being "allowed to be CTPAT members and enjoy the many trade facilitation benefits of membership," it said.
Arent Fox lawyers said a disclosure bill aimed at large fashion retailers and manufacturers may not pass in the New York statehouse, but it's making lots of people in the industry nervous (see 2201200046). "Even if this bill doesn't pass, there's going to be others in the future," Angela Santos said.
The Coalition for Metal Manufacturers and Users is arguing that tariff rate quotas on raw materials "lead to market manipulations and allow for gaming of the system that puts this country’s smallest manufacturers at an even further disadvantage," and said "some steel products’ quota filled up for the year in the first two weeks of January."
Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel says that audits have already led to investigations at the FMC, but that the agency is underpowered, with about 115 employees and just six investigators. He said there have been billions of dollars worth of detention and demurrage charges, and that the FMC will be issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to create further guidance about proper detention and demurrage charges.
The U.S. had no legal standing to impose safeguard tariffs on Canadian solar panels, a USMCA panel ruled in January. The panel report was made public on Feb. 15.
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The two top issues Thomas Overacker, CBP's executive director of cargo and conveyance security, has been dealing with are the blockades at the Canadian border and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. He told an audience at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones' legislative conference that CBP is going to have a challenge identifying what goods come from the Xinjiang region, given the number of middle men in China, issuing invoices or acting as freight forwarders. "It’s not always evident from the data we collect at CBP … where the goods were actually produced," he said Feb. 15.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Feb. 11 suspended avocado export program operations in the Mexican state of Michoacan, after a “security incident” that included a verbal threat to an APHIS employee, an agency spokesperson emailed Feb. 14. “The suspension will remain in place for as long as necessary to ensure the appropriate actions are taken, to secure the safety of APHIS personnel working in Mexico,” the spokesperson said.
To help prevent someone from selling stolen goods on a marketplace, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Washington state legislators have proposed bills that would require marketplaces to obtain and share the names and contact information of high-volume marketplace sellers.