Monday Morning eBriefing

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reminded the trade community that former U.S. export restrictions imposed on certain medical supplies and equipment to combat the spread of COVID-19 are now lifted.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has appointed Alberto Flores to serve as port director of the Laredo, Texas port of entry.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked the Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for non-NIOSH-approved disposable respirators, effective July 6, and the EUAs for decontamination and bioburden reduction systems, effective June 30.

The Commerce Department on June 28 began requiring and collecting aluminum import licenses for all covered entries into the U.S.

The House Appropriations Homeland Security Committee on June 29 released its fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill, which provides $14.11 billion in net discretionary appropriations for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

NCBFAA's 2021 Membership Directory has been published and will be arriving in your mailbox shortly.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has updated and deployed ACE programming to allow accelerated payment (AP) to be secured by a sufficient and valid 1A continuous bond provided the bond's effective date is on or before the AP request date.

NCBFAA is notifying members that the U.S. International Trade Commission's 484(f) Committee has made changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) and Schedule B, effective July 1.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) announced it will continue to accept electronically produced versions of phytosanitary certificates through Dec. 31, 2021.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on July 1 issued two of its three highly anticipated U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) regulatory packages setting forth requirements on a range of issues.

Trade policy restraint by G20 economies, as well as World Trade Organization (WTO) members more broadly, prevented a "destructive acceleration of protectionist trade measures that would have further hurt the world economy," according to the WTO's latest Trade Monitoring Report.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome the following members who have recently joined our association:

Cynthia Whittenburg joins the NCBFAA Educational Institute (NEI) as Associate Director to promote and enhance the knowledge base and professionalism within this dynamic industry.

Customs and Border Protection CBP has posted on CBP.gov a contact list for local Broker Management Officers (BMOs) by Center of Excellence and Expertise, including BMO name, email, phone number, mailing address, and Assistant Center Director.

As we have reported previously, the Senate passed key trade provisions as part of U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. It is going to be a bit more complicated in the House, in part because of time being spent on the Jobs Act, a large infrastructure package currently under consideration.

The container shipping markets are in a state unlike anything seen before. There is clearly not sufficient capacity to move all the cargo shippers want to get moved, freight rates are far beyond any previous records, reliability is far worse than at any point in time, and it appears as if every day brings another operational disruption to make matters worse.

President Biden and a group of 10 Democratic and Republican senators reportedly reached agreement on a Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework which includes $579 billion for new infrastructure building. An estimated $109 billion will be for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, and $16 billion for ports and waterways.

Customs and Border Protection's Office of International Trade recently updated its list of companies/persons who provide data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).

The Census Bureau, which is tasked with collecting the nation's foreign trade statistics, told representatives of the U.S. export community that it has recently held meetings on a proposed rulemaking to clarify the responsibilities of parties participating in "routed" export transactions.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome the following members who have recently joined our association: