From Watching to Acting
The writing has been on the wall for a while. This week, some of those warnings turned into dates, duty rates, filing requirements, and even an import prohibition. With Cindy Allen traveling for the NCBFAA GAC conference, Lalo Solorzano takes over the weekly trade update, swapping Taylor Swift for Iron Maiden and digging into developments that trade professionals can no longer leave in the “watching” category.
Canada Faces a Hard Stop, Not Just a Higher Duty
Beginning September 29, certain Canadian packaged alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motorcycles will be excluded from importation into the United States under Section 338, moving well beyond the earlier 50% additional duty. Exact product coverage and HTS classification matter here, and goods imported before the effective date may be treated differently. For importers, that raises immediate questions around shipment timing, entry status, and sourcing.
CBP Wants Export Data Earlier
CBP will kick off a roughly two-year electronic export manifest test for truck cargo on October 23, starting with nine carriers. Participating carriers must submit export-manifest information through ACE at least 24 hours before departure, with the complete manifest due no later than two hours before arrival at the final port of export. It’s a clear signal: CBP wants this information earlier, and carriers, forwarders, and USPPIs should be ready to adjust.
AD/CVD Doesn’t Sit Still
This week brings a preliminary circumvention finding on certain compacted graphite iron brake drums from China, a preliminary 56.43% dumping margin on seamless refined copper pipe and tube from Mexico, and final affirmative ITC injury determinations on oleoresin paprika from India. The takeaway: AD/CVD exposure is not static. Scope, rates, and circumvention findings can shift well after a sourcing decision is locked in.
CAPE Phase 3 Has a Date, With a Catch
CBP says CAPE Phase 3 opens October 6 for certain finally liquidated entries tied to litigation, but it’s not a blanket fix. The phase currently applies to importers who filed their own lawsuit and hold a court order permitting reliquidation. Affected companies should confirm entry coverage, importer-of-record information, and ACH refund details are in order.
Ready to Go Deeper?
Time to revisit your compliance watch list. Explore GTC’s course offerings on Importing Procedures, AD/CVD Fundamentals, and Trade Action Strategies to stay ahead of developments that no longer stay theoretical for long.
Transcript
Machine Operated
Lalo (00:06)
Welcome back to Simply Trade. Sadly, for all of you listening, Cindy is traveling for the NCBFAA G A C conference this next week. And so you are stuck with me. So as you all know, Cindy likes to tie her updates to Taylor Swift’s song.
and as you all know, I don’t know too much about Taylor other than she’s married to Travis.
instead I’m digging deep into my hairband cassettes for this one because this week I think the song pretty much picked itself. Iron Maiden’s “The writing on The Wall Because for a lot of what we’re talking about this week, the writing really has been on the wall. In fact, if you listen to Cindy last week, she basically told us that this is becoming the new normal in trade. And this week, some of those things she told us to keep watching started turning into actual dates.
Actual requirements, actual duty rates, and in one case an actual import ban. More on that later. So let’s get into it. I want to start with Canada because I think that is probably the biggest development this week. A few weeks ago, we talked about the new section three thirty-eight tariffs on certain Canadian goods. Those additional duties went into effect on August at fifty percent.
but now we are moving beyond tariffs. Beginning September 29th, certain Canadian goods are actually going to be excluded from importing into the United States. They’re not going to be taxed at 50%. They’re not going to be subject to another Chapter 99 duty, but flat out excluded. The new restrictions cover certain packaged Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motorcycles. And I wanna be careful because
That does not mean that all Canadian alcohol, all dairy products, or everything with wheels coming in from Canada is suddenly banned. As always in trade, you have to get the actual product coverage and the HTS numbers. But if your company imports anything in those categories from Canada, this is definitely not one of those stories where you read as a headline and say, hmm, that’s interesting, and then move on. So September twenty nine is pretty much here.
And there is something now that makes this interesting. If covered goods were already imported before September 29, the treatment can be different. Those goods can remain subject to the earlier 50% Section 338 duty rather than being hit with a new prohibition. So now the timing matters. When did it arrive? Has it entered? Has it been entered? Is it sitting in a warehouse? What is a classification? Does a prohibition actually cover the product?
This is where customs people suddenly become everybody’s best friend in the company. For example, procurement suddenly is asking, can I still buy this? Logistics wants to know, what do I do with a shipment that’s already moving? Finance wants to know, am I paying another 50%? And legal wants to know, wait, are we even allowed to bring this into the country anymore? That is a very different conversation from simply calculating another tariff.
And I think this Canada story is also a really good example of why we need to understand what section three thirty eight actually is.
We did record a couple of episodes recently. one was with Molly and the other one with Molly again, but with Kim. You you should be able to find those ’cause those were very recent and they those ladies pretty much just covered everything. I’m not even gonna bother explaining all that because they did cover it pretty good.
So now let’s move over to exports. And this one actually connects directly to something Cindy talked about last week. She mentioned C B’s continuing rollout of electronic export manifest and specifically talked about the new rail export manifest requirement.
Well, this week we got another piece of that puzzle. CBP is beginning a test of electronic export manifest for truck cargo starting on October twenty-third. The test will run for about two years and at least initially It is limited to nine truck carriers. So before anybody panics, no, this does not mean every truck leaving the United States suddenly has a new 24-hour filing requirement on October 23rd. This is a test, but
What CBP is testing is pretty interesting. Participating carriers will submit certain limited export manifest information in ACE at least twenty four hours before departure from the United States.
Then the complete export manifest will have to be submitted no later than two hours before arriving in the final port of export.
Why does CBP want the information earlier? Targeting. They want enough time to look at the shipment, assess the risk, identify something that may need additional information or inspection, and deal with it before the truck is essentially sitting there at the border. And if CBP determines that cargo may be high risk, it can place a shipment on hold until additional information is provided.
An inspection happens or whatever other action is needed.
Again, only nine carriers right now. Only a test but I think the direction is pretty clear. CBP wants information earlier and earlier information changes the way people work. and
If you have spent any time around exports, you know how this sometimes goes. The truck is leaving. Somebody realizes the schedule B number is wrong. The quantity has changed. The consigning has changed. The AES finally needs to be corrected. Everybody starts emailing everybody. Somebody says, Can you fix this really quick? That becomes a different process when customs want key information a day earlier. It means carriers need information sooner. Forwarders need information sooner.
The USPPI needs to have its data together sooner. And there is less room for that last minute scramble. So Cindy told us last week to keep watching the export manifest rollout. Well, here is that next development.
Now let’s move into anti-dumping and carnivaline duties. And I promise it’s not gonna turn into an ADCVD seminar. But there are a couple of developments this week that are good examples of why companies really need to keep monitoring these cases. Commerce preliminary determined that certain compact graphite iron brake drums from China are
Later developed merchandise that is circumventing the existing anti-dumping and contervailing duty orders on Chinese brake drums. That word circumvention is important because sometimes a supplier will tell an importer, Don’t worry, this version isn’t covered. Okay, well, maybe. But my next question would be: why? What changed? Is this actually a different product? Was there a meaningful change in the manufacturing,
Or did somebody make just enough of a change to try to get around the wording of an ADCBD order? Commerce has tools specifically designed to look at those situations. And if Commerce decides the merchandise is circumventing the order, what seemed like a clever sourcing solution can become a very expensive compliance problem. We also saw a preliminary dumping margin of 56.43% in the administrative review of
Seamless refined copper pipe and tube from Mexico. And the ITC also issued final affirmative injury Determinations on paprika from India, meaning A D and C V D orders will follow.
The point is that ADCVD exposure changes, rates change, cases develop, new products get pulled in, circumvention findings happen. And something your sourcing team decided was economical six months ago can look completely different once you add a 56% dumping rate. ADCVD is not something you check once when you approve the supplier and never look at it again. It definitely needs monitoring.
Now I want to do a quick follow-up on something else Cindy talked about last week, IEEPA refunds. She told you that CAPE phase three was coming for final liquidated entries type two court litigation. This week we got that date. CBP says phase three is scheduled to open October 6th. So this is not a brand new story. What has changed this week is that now we know when the next part of the refund process is supposed to go live.
And there is one really important thing to note here.
October sixth does not mean that every importer with finally liquidated IEEPA entries can suddenly go into ACE and request a refund. Right now this is pretty narrow group. Phase three applies to importers who filed
their own lawsuit and have a court order allowing those finally liquidated entries reliquidated. So if you did not file suit, do not hear October 6th and assume there’s suddenly a refund button waiting for you. That is not what this means. But if your company does have litigation and finally liquidated entries, this is absolutely something you and your customs counsel should be looking at.
Make sure the affected entries are covered. Make sure CBP has a proper importer of record information. And make sure your ACH refund information is correct because getting the government to agree to give you your money back is great. But actually receiving that money is even better. And Cindy talked about that last week also. There are importers with refunds already transmitted towards Treasury that are still waiting because their ACH information is not set up correctly.
So there is your CAPE update. Last week, phase three is coming. This week, October 6th. Now there is one smaller story I had to include mostly because I could not resist it. the DEA is proposing to place five, and I’m not even gonna try to pronounce this, but it’s tripadamine.
hallucinogens into Schedule One under the Controlled Substances Act.
Lalo (09:35)
If finalized, the restrictions would apply to activities involving those substances including import and export.
So that’s the update for this week. And this is where I come back to Iron Maiden, the writing on the wall. Because when you look at these stories together, that really is what this week feels like. Cindy said last week that this is becoming the new trade environment. She talked about companies needing to stop looking backward and recognize the environment has changed. Well
Look at what happened this week. Canada, the writing was on the wall with section 338 and the 50% tariffs. now certain products are about to be excluded from entry entirely. Export manifest CBP has been moving towards more electronic export data for years. Now the truck test has a date. ADCVD, the cases were already out there. Now we have circumvention findings, actual margins and orders moving forward.
IEEPA refunds, we knew phase three was coming. Now we have an October sixth date. that is why my practical takeaway this week is pretty simple. Go back and look at things inside your company that are still sitting in the watching category.
That tariff issue somebody said they would monitor. That refund opportunity somebody said that we’re waiting for. That ADCVD case somebody said was preliminary. That proposed filing change somebody put in a spreadsheet six months ago. Go look at it again. Because some of those things may not be watch items anymore.
They may now have dates, they may now have rates, they may now have filing requirements, and in the case of Canada, they may now have an import ban. The writing has been on the wall. The question now is whether your company is actually reading it. That is a trade update for this week. Thanks for hanging out with me while Cindy is off doing actual import trade work. And Cindy, if you’re listening, please come back.
As always, stay informed, stay curious, and keep bringing clarity to trade compliance.
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