| Customs & International Trade Law Blog

Here is a recap of the latest customs and international trade news:   

Administration   

• President Trump signed an Executive Order reducing the reciprocal tariff on China from 125% to 10% for 90 days. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  

• CBP released their April 2025 monthly update. Highlights:
  • Successfully implemented tariffs guided by 21 presidential actions
  • Identified $117 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government
  • Stopped 140 shipments for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor
• CBP released a notice outlining refund procedures to implement President Trump’s executive order on tariff stacking. 
• CBP published guidance clarifying what facilities can be considered bonded warehouses. Bonded warehouses don’t include container freight stations, inspectional facilities, or express consignment facilities.
• CBP published an update to their FAQs clarifying that goods loaded onto feeder vessels before reciprocal tariffs took effect, but transferred to another vessel after, aren’t eligible for an exemption from the tariffs for in-transit goods.
• CBP released guidance on the decrease of the reciprocal tariff rate on China to 10% as provided in the executive order issued by President Donald Trump. Filers should report subheading 9903.01.25.
• CBP issued a final rule placing emergency import restrictions on certain archaeological and ethnological items from Lebanon. The covered materials will be restricted until January 23, 2029.

Court of International Trade 

• On May 13, the Court of International Trade on May 13 heard arguments in a case regarding the president’s ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
• The CIT held that a product is “imported” for duty drawback purposes when it’s admitted into a foreign-trade zone and not when entered for domestic consumption. 

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

• BIS announced that the agency is rescinding the Biden Administration’s AI Diffusion Rule, stating that the requirements would have stifled American innovation.
• BIS issued guidance to help increase the industry’s awareness of illegal diversion schemes involving advanced computing integrated circuits.

Department of Justice (DoJ)

• A Chinese company and three Chinese nationals were charged with illegal importation of pill-making equipment used to manufacture controlled substances.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• The EPA has published an interim final rule amending the data submission period for its PFAS reporting rule. The rule requires PFAS manufacturers and importers to report certain data to the EPA related to exposure and environmental and health effects. The start date for submitting data is set for April 13, 2026, and the period will end on October 13, 2026, with an alternate end date of April 13, 2027.

U.S. State Department

• The State Department’s Office of Marine Conservation announced that beginning June 1, 2025, wild-caught shrimp from Peru will be prohibited from import into the U.S.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

• The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) suspended the import of live cattle, horses and bison at U.S. ports of entry along the Mexico border because of the detected spread of the new world screwworm.

Department of Energy (DoE)

• The DoE Department of Energy issued a final rule amending its regulations related to the import and export of natural gas. The amendments seek to update and streamline the requirements for filing documents with the agency. 

Congress 

• The House Ways and Means Committee passed the tax cut bill on May 14. The bill mainly concerns income taxes but also ends de minimis for all commercial shipments on July 1, 2027. The bill also limits the use of drawback when exporters of U.S.-manufactured tobacco products file drawback claims for imported products that paid tobacco excise taxes. 
• House Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to President Trump asking the administration to share more information about their negotiations with other countries. 

Industry News 

• A coalition of food producers sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking the Administration to impose tariffs on “unfairly traded imports” of products similar to theirs.