Import

THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ANNOUNCES NEW AUTO PARTS TARIFF INCLUSIONS PROCESS

AICC Auto, Business, Home, Import, International, News, Tariff, Trade, USA, World

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) today released new procedures for including additional automobile parts articles to be subject to 25% tariffs under Section 232 tariffs on imported automobile parts. This program will strengthen the objectives of Section 232 tariffs to protect critical U.S. national security interests related to automobiles and automobile parts.  

Pursuant to President Donald J. Trump’s proclamation on March 26, 2025, the Department of Commerce has established a process by which domestic producers of automobile parts articles may request additional auto parts articles to be included in the scope of Section 232 tariffs on automobile parts. The established process will be published in the Federal Register. 

To ensure efficient resource use and to provide predictability to U.S. industry, ITA is establishing two-week submission windows four times annually each January, April, July, and October, with the first window opening July 1, 2025. ITA will review received requests on a rolling basis during the two-week submission window.

Following the two-week submission window, a non-confidential version of each valid request will be posted on regulations.gov and open for public comment for 14 days. This public review and comment phase will ensure a transparent, complete, and legally-robust process for final analysis and determination, including whether the product is an auto part article and whether increased imports of the article threaten to impair national security or Section 232 automobile tariff objectives. ITA will make a determination within 60 days of receiving the request. 

Submissions of inclusions requests must include (1) applicant identification, (2) description of requested auto part article, (3) eight or ten-digit HTSUS classification requested for tariff inclusion, (4) explanation of why the article is an auto parts article, (5) information on the domestic industry affected, (6) statistics on imports and domestic production, and (7) description of how and to what extent imports of the article have increased in a manner that threatens to impair national security or undermine Section 232 automobile tariff objectives. All submissions must be made via regulations.gov. 

U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Releases 2023 National Export Strategy

AICC Business, Export, Home, Import, International, News, Trade, USA, World

Today, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo released the 2023 National Export Strategy(NES). This report to Congress establishes U.S. trade promotion priorities and a coordinated, whole-of-government framework to better equip American companies and workers to compete in global markets and grow through international trade. The NES highlights government programs and resources to assist U.S. businesses – including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), historically underrepresented businesses, and those new to exporting – to overcome barriers to trade and sell their goods and services globally.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s generational investments in U.S. industry, innovation, workforce training, and place-based economic development are setting the stage for inclusive economic growth and boosting U.S. competitiveness on the global stage,” said Secretary Raimondo. “We are releasing the 2023 National Export Strategy amidst these historic investments, which outlines how we align the full force of the federal government to help U.S. businesses and workers compete and win in international markets—including small businesses exporting for the first time.”

The 2023 NES was released during the Biden-Harris Administration’s inaugural meeting of the President’s Export Council (PEC), a body that serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. The PEC is comprised of more than two dozen leaders from the private sector, labor, and academia who provide recommendations to the President on policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance.

The 2023 NES contains export promotion actions and activities to increase and enhance market opportunities in several sectors, including:

1. Climate and clean technologies
2. Manufacturing
3. Travel and tourism
4. International education
5. Global infrastructure development
6. Agriculture, fish and forestry
7. Seafood industries

The 2023 NES was developed by the Trade Promotion Coordination Committee (TPCC), an interagency body established to provide a unifying framework to coordinate the export promotion and export financing activities of the U.S. government. The TPCC Secretariat is housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.

US Blacklists 34 Entities, Including 14 Chinese Companies

AICC Business, China, Home, Import, Trade, USA

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added 34 entities to the Entity List for their involvement in, or risk of becoming involved in, activities contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States. Of these 34 entities, 14 are based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and have enabled Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions of China (XUAR), where the PRC continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. Commerce added another five entities directly supporting PRC’s military modernization programs related to lasers and C4ISR programs to the Entity List.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo issued the following statement: “The Department of Commerce remains firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use U.S. technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization efforts. We will continue to aggressively use export controls to hold governments, companies, and individuals accountable for attempting to access U.S.-origin items for subversive activities in countries like China, Iran, and Russia that threaten U.S. national security interests and are inconsistent with our values.”

As part of this package, Commerce added eight entities for facilitating the export of U.S. items to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) or to entities on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially-Designated Nationals List. Commerce added another six entities for their involvement in the procurement of U.S.-origin electronic components, likely in furtherance of Russian military programs. Additionally, Commerce added one entity to the Military End-User List under the destination of Russia. Finally, Commerce removed one entity from the Unverified List, as a conforming change to this same entity being added to the Entity List for being involved in proliferation to unsafeguarded nuclear activities.

The Entity List is a tool utilized by BIS to restrict the export, reexport, and transfer (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to persons (individuals, organizations, companies) reasonably believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Additional license requirements apply to exports, re-exports, and transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to listed entities, and the availability of most license exceptions is limited.

U.S. Department of Commerce Releases Enhanced Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System

AICC Business, Home, Import, Trade

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the adoption of a final rule modernizing the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system. Commerce also announced plans to unveil a new online platform for SIMA on Commerce’s website in October.

“These significant improvements to SIMA will enable Commerce and the public to more readily identify transshipment and circumvention involving steel imports,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This is one more way the Trump Administration is standing up for our workers and families across the country who depend on a strong American steel industry.”

The regulatory changes adopted by today’s final rule will: (1) require steel import license applicants to identify not only the country of origin, but also the country where steel used in the manufacture of the imported product was melted and poured, as defined in the final rule; (2) expand the scope of steel products subject to the import licensing requirement to include all products subject to Section 232 tariffs; (3) extend the SIMA system indefinitely; and (4) codify the existing low-value license requirement for certain steel entries up to $5,000. Commerce received public comments on these regulatory changes, as published in a March 2020 proposed rule.

The new online platform for SIMA to be released on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, represents the first major overhaul of the system since it was last updated in 2005. The updated SIMA will offer free, modern data analytic tools to the public for performing detailed, customized data analysis. These tools will aid in the identification of changing trade patterns and surges in U.S. imports of steel products, as well as potential circumvention and evasion.

Commerce will hold a series of webinars for users to become familiar with the updated SIMA system. The webinars will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. For specific dates and times of the demonstrations, and for information about participating, please visit https://www.trade.gov/updates-steel-import-licensing.

The updates to SIMA are consistent with the May 17, 2019 joint understandings between the United States and Canada, and the United States and Mexico, which provided that in monitoring for steel import surges, the United States may treat products made with steel that is melted and poured in North America separately from products that are not.

SIMA is administered by Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration, which is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws.