Import

President Trump Strengthens U.S. Policy Toward Cuba

Did you know that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced additional changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba implemented on October 9? On September 6th, the Trump Administration announced measures to increase economic pressure on the Cuban military regime. This follows past policy changes President Trump has taken to sanction the Cuban government for its daily human rights abuses against the Cuban people and abroad. Earlier this year, the President restricted non-family travel to Cuba by removing the travel exemption category of “people-to-people” travel to the island. 

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U.S. Expands Trade War to EU

After winning the largest arbitration award (7.5 billion) in World Trade Organization (WTO) history in its dispute with the European Union (EU) over illegal subsidies to Airbus, the United States (US) will begin applying WTO-approved tariffs on certain EU goods beginning October 18. Although USTR has the authority to apply a 100 percent tariff on affected products, at this time the tariff increases will be limited to 10% on large civil aircrafts and 25% on agricultural and other products. The U.S. has the authority to increase the tariffs at any time, or change the products affected.

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FDA ISSUES ITS FIRST FSVP WARNING LETTER

The Food Safety Modernization Act (“FSMA”) is in full force and the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) is now enforcing its Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) regulation. This blog discusses FDA’s first FSVP Warning Letter and illustrates what NOT to do when FDA starts asking questions about your products. The FSVP regulation requires that importers perform certain risk-based activities to verify that human and/or animal food imported into the United States has been produced in a manner that meets applicable U.S. food safety standards.

In the case of the U.S. importer who received the FSVP Warning Letter, their FDA issues started in the beginning of 2019 when a salmonella outbreak ravished multiple states and was traced back to their Tahini product.

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India removed from GSP, potential problems permeate

After the Trump Administration officially revoked India’s participation in the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) on June 5, 2019, India announced that it intends to implement tariffs on roughly 30 HTS-listed items. The items-which include many agricultural goods, such as almonds and apples- would be subjected to 70% duties upon entry.

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TOP 5 Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of Tariffs

Many importers, exporters, and international businesses alike may be unaware that avenues exist to ensure that their products remain unabated by protectionist trade policies (think China tariffs).

This blog provides an easy reference overview of five (5) proven and legitimate options for duty-saving opportunities.

We recommend U.S. importers, exporters, and manufacturers to consider these five (5) options as they apply to all products from virtually any country subjected to a tariff, including Section 201 tariffs for solar systems, Section 232 tariffs for aluminum and steel, and the infamous Section 301 Tariffs in place for Chinese originating goods and violations of trade agreements, as well as acts, policies or practices that are unjustifiable,  unreasonable, or discriminatory and that burden or restrict U.S. commerce.

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