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

Administration:

  • President Trump posted on Truth Social that he is recommending a 50% tariff on the EU starting June 1st, claiming that negotiations with the EU are “going nowhere.”
  • President Trump posted on Truth Social that he expects Apple’s iPhones to be manufactured in the United States, threatening a 25% tariff if they are manufactured elsewhere.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  

  • CBP’s Office of Trade’s National Commodity Specialist Division (NCSD) announced several webinars in June as a part of the 2025 NCSD webinar series.
  • CBP has replaced the list of subheadings for commodities of energy and energy resources of Canada subject to 10% tariffs, IEEPA fentanyl tariffs. 
  • CBP reminds the pharmaceutical trade community of their legal obligations in light of ‘most-favored-nation’ drug-pricing requirements.
  • CBP officers in Houston seized counterfeit Apple phone chargers worth over $7 million.

Department of Commerce 

  • Commerce published a federal register notice establishing a process to reduce Section 232 tariffs on vehicles. In the notice, Commerce suggested that automakers will be able to save about $10 billion annually on USMCA-qualifying vehicles imported from Canada or Mexico by submitting documentation to the International Trade Commission about the U.S. content in those vehicles.

Court of International Trade (CIT)

  • The CIT held a second hearing on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The case was filed by 12 states challenging all IEEPA tariff actions. 

Department of Justice (DoJ)

  • The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against two logistics companies, barring them from using the U.S. Postal Service to ship packages with counterfeit postage. The companies allegedly shipped thousands of parcels using counterfeit labels.

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

  • More than 40 companies and trade groups have filed comments with BIS asking that 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum be applied to hundreds of “derivative” products made by foreign competitors. The docket considering which goods to add to the derivatives list will remain open for comments until June 16.

Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

  • OFAC and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding enhanced sanctions enforcement cooperation through information sharing.

Federal Maritime Commission (FMC)

  • The FMC launched an investigation into whether the vessel flagging laws, regulations, or practices of foreign countries or shipowners are creating unfavorable shipping conditions for the United States.
  • A FMC administrative law judge approved a confidential agreement to settle allegations by U.S.-based equipment supplier AirBoss Defense Group that non-vessel-operating common carrier FedEx Trade Networks Transport & Brokerage and ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. charged unfair demurrage and detention fees.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

  • The CPSC has now launched Self-Registration for the eFiling Product Registry voluntary stage. This allows importers and customs brokers to participate in the program ahead of the mandatory eFiling date of July 1, 2026.

Department of Energy (DoE)

  • The DoE is again delaying the effective date of a rule amending the test procedures for central air conditioners and heat pumps, it said in a Federal Register notice. The effective date has been delayed twice previously and is now July 7.

Congress 

  • The Congressional Budget Office released an estimate stating that if de minimis ends for all imports in July 2027, as proposed in the tax bill currently being considered in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Treasury would collect an additional $5.2 billion in the first full fiscal year after the change.
  • A group of five Senators asked Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, to adopt a formal exclusion process for tariffs.
  • Three democratic Senators wrote a letter to President Trump expressing concern that tariffs harm national defense alliances. 

Industry News 

  • The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida transferred a case challenging tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to the Court of International Trade. 
  • A new report from Kharon suggests that several firms on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List are establishing new subsidiaries that provide alternate logistical routes to keep their goods moving into global supply chains.
  • A small Michigan-based importer, Detroit Axle, filed a case in the Court of International Trade to challenge President Donald Trump’s revocation of the de minimis threshold for Chinese goods.

International 

  • EU officials and trade experts are questioning whether the trade agreement struck between the UK and the US violates WTO rules.

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