News to Use

The MPF and GSP renewals have made it through the House and will now go to the Senate. The MPF will, assuming the bill passes, increase for formal entries to %0.3464. However, all indications are that the $485 cap will remain the same. That means that importers of small value merchandise are likely to feel the brunt of this increase more than importers of high-value imports. If this blog contained political commentary, which it doesn't, one might wonder about the politics of that decision.

The House bill also retroactively renews GSP. It appears that if entries were flagged using the A SPI while GSP had lapsed, the entries will be liquidated with GSP benefits. Of course, that remains to be seen, so don't rely on that for your internal procedures.

In his jobs speech, the President encouraged Congress to act to implement the already-negotiated trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Reliable sources in Washington say that those agreements need to be submitted to Congress soon if they stand a chance of getting done before we are fully mired in the election process. Personally, I already feel mired.

If you use the port of Whitetail, MT, you need to look for another port. Customs is proposing to permanently close the port.

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