The majority of comments from U.S. interests submitted on whether the U.S. should do anything to pressure Vietnam to stop manipulating its currency favor not putting tariffs on Vietnamese imports. Many comments filed in the docket express disagreement with the very premise of the investigation. HanesBrands, which manufacturers apparel in Vietnam that is exported to the U.S., Australia, Canada, the European Union and China, requested a public hearing on the investigation, and quoted the statute that requires such a hearing if requested by any interested person.

The Court of International Trade on Nov. 12 dismissed an importer’s challenge to the antidumping duty rate it was assessed following completion of an administrative review that covered its Chinese exporter. Intercontinental Chemicals (ICC) should have participated in the administrative review if it wanted to challenge its exporter’s oversight that led to the assessments at a rate of 154.07%, rather than the zero rate the exporter was assigned in the review, CIT said.

Although President-elect Joe Biden has said he wants to focus on domestic issues before turning to trade, Brian Pomper, a former chief international trade counsel when the Senate Finance Committee was controlled by Democrats, said he's going to have to deal with trade right away if the Trump administration imposes tariffs on France on Jan. 1 over its digital services tax proposal.

There are still three pending Section 232 investigations, and the one on downstream electrical steel products is already at the White House, so you shouldn't be surprised if the Trump administration hikes tariffs on more products on the way out the door, according to Halie Craig, the former trade staffer for Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Craig, who was speaking on behalf of the R Street Institute, a pro-market think tank, also said she wonders if there will be more action against China, since the country is not on track to meet its phase one purchase targets.

CBP has identified three primary goals for the 21st Century Customs Framework, which has the potential to upend the approach to customs processing, said Maranda Kan, acting director of trade modernization, Office of Trade. Those goals are: “to achieve end-to-end supply chain transparency; to drive data-centric decision-making; and to diversify reasonable care standards,” she told a virtual U.S. Fashion Industry Association event Nov. 10.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Nov. 2-6 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Federal Maritime Commission plans to discuss a rise in non-compliance with its May rule (see 2004290037) on detention and demurrage charges after industry complained that the rule is being ignored, Rebecca Dye, an FMC commissioner, said during a Nov. 10 session at the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade virtual conference. She said she will soon make “recommendations” to other commissioners to address the rule and other issues, including problems surrounding container returns.

CBP has some qualms with the operational aspects of ending the de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, Executive Assistant Commissioner for International Trade Brenda Smith said while speaking on the virtual Coalition of New England Companies for Trade conference on Nov. 9. There's a CBP proposal for the change that's under Office of Management and Budget review (see 2009040026). “We do have some concerns,” she said.

A product must include non-extruded aluminum parts to qualify for the finished merchandise exemption from antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a Nov. 6 decision. Aluminum pallets imported by Perfectus Aluminum don’t have any such parts, and are covered by the AD/CVD orders, the appeals court said, affirming a Commerce Department scope ruling.

A withhold release order aimed at goods from China's Xinjiang region wouldn't go far enough in the fight against forced labor, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a Nov. 9 letter to Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. CBP should instead hit all of China with a WRO, the CPA said. CBP is considering a regional WRO (see 2009140040), which was in itself already seen by some industries as major and potentially onerous action. A “country wide-WRO is the only approach to stopping forced labor,” the trade group said.