Most Senate Judiciary Committee members from both parties said that two bills aimed at fighting the sale of counterfeits on e-commerce platforms are needed, though neither would be a silver bullet for a growing problem. The CEO of the Internet Association, one of the witnesses at the Nov. 2 hearing, also said his companies could support the INFORM Consumers Act, if it was more like the reworked version in the House, and they think the threshold for being considered a "high-volume seller" needs to be higher (see 2110280061).

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the administration is "very supportive" of Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0, a bipartisan bill from Ohio's senators that would clarify how dumping calculations are made, would provide for expedited successive investigations when there is an import surge from a new country on a product subject to a trade remedy order, and would address extraterritorial subsidies (see 2104160037)

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America remains supportive of CBP's efforts to impose new continuing education requirements for customs brokers (see 2109090030), but requested some changes from the proposed rule in recently submitted comments. The NCBFAA would like to see CBP include provisions for recognizing 30-minute trainings as the smallest unit of continuing education training credits (half credits) and for full credits to include time to allow for breaks. It also said it agreed with CBP's change to 36 hours of education every three years, from 40 hours.

If the demand for steel spikes after the infrastructure investments get underway, there will be room in the tariff rate quota for growth, according to the agreement reached by U.S. and European negotiators. If there is a 6% increase in demand for steel compared with 2021, the TRQ on 54 steel products will increase by 3%. And if there is a 12% increase, it will increase by 6%. But changes smaller than that amount will not result in a change to the 3.3 million metric-ton quota. That quota, which will be administered quarterly, takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2111010029).

IRobot slashed operating income projections for the fiscal year ending Jan. 1 on concerns over higher supply chain costs, price increases and Section 301 tariffs, Chief Financial Officer Julie Zeiler said on an Oct. 28 earnings call. Q3 gross margin declined by 11 percentage points, with 60% of the decrease due to an unexpected $14 million in tariff costs and “supply chain headwinds.”

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative voiced support for the current CAFTA-DR rules of origin as the best way to support the textile industry in the Northern Triangle countries, following an Oct. 29 meeting with a domestic industry textiles group. Imports from Central American countries covered by the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement have been flat since the agreement came into effect 15 years ago and some have talked about loosening restrictive textile rules of origin to boost production there.

The social spending and climate response bill known as Build Back Better has been scaled back to satisfy concerns of two Senate moderate Democrats, and as a result, many of the original pay-fors are gone, including a limitation on tobacco drawback and a plan to tax the nicotine in vaping cartridges.

Shippers were caught off guard by a new surcharge announced this week by the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports that could exacerbate unfair detention and demurrage fees, members of the Federal Maritime Commission’s Shipper Advisory Committee said. The ports announced a surcharge to ocean carriers for containers that dwell at terminals, a fee that will likely be passed on to shippers, members said during the committee’s inaugural meeting Oct. 27 (see 2109100008 and ​​2110140001).

With too many small packages to inspect, and Instagram and other social media influencers promoting knockoffs, fashion brands are dealing with a challenging environment. But panelists on a Crowell & Moring webinar Oct. 26 called "The Year of the Knockoff" found some reason for hope.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 18-22 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.