Monday Morning eBriefing

Ha Nguyen McNeill, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), announced July 16 that Christopher Chipps will serve as the agency’s new Executive Director for Air Cargo. Prior to this appointment, Chipps served as TSA International Compliance Division Director.

A summary of the latest customs and cross-border trade regulatory updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Customs Counsel firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

A summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome American Clearance Brokerage, Kamigumi USA, King Ocean Services, On Time Customs Brokerage, and Sidney Freidin which have recently joined our association. We're so excited to have these firms join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on July 15 announced that under President Trump’s direction, the U.S. will impose a 25% tariff under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act on certain goods from Brazil. The tariffs, with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, will take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 22.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on July 15 provided guidance to the trade regarding the new requirements for reporting the countries of smelt and cast on imports of certain copper articles per Proclamation 11021. Effective July 30, imports of certain copper articles from all countries of origin (except the U.S.), shall report the primary country of smelt and country of cast, and may report the secondary country of smelt, on the entry summary line for the following HTSUS classifications: 8544.42.10; 8544.42.20; 8544.42.90; and 8544.49.10.

An important feature of the annual NCBFAA Government Affairs Conference (GAC) is meeting with your elected officials on Capitol Hill to help ensure they understand the implications of any trade-related legislation placed before them. With the multitude of changes occurring in Washington, D.C., the resulting impact on cross-border trade, and consequently our industry, means that NCBFAA Member representation at the GAC is vitally important. To prepare members on how to best approach lawmakers and their staff about important issues to our industry, NCBFAA will host a webinar on Thursday, Aug. 20, from 1-2 p.m. ET.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on July 16 introduced to the trade a new “Inactive for Entry Purposes” status for Importers of Record (IOR) in the ACE Production environment. The agency said the enhancement will enable CBP to automatically deactivate IOR accounts that have not filed an entry within 366 days, in accordance with 19 CFR 24.5(e). IORs with this status will be ineligible to transmit ACE Cargo Release and ACE Entry Summary transactions.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee brings to the attention of our customs broker members and their importer clients a reminder of the bond sufficiency computation. The current bond sufficiency computation guidance is outlined in the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) A Guide for the Public: How CBP Sets Bond Amounts | U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Under this guidance, bond sufficiency is calculated using estimated duties, taxes, and fees (DTFs).

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a July 13 update to the U.S. Court of International Trade reported that as of 3 p.m. ET on Friday, July 10, approximately 24.4 million entries with IEEPA duties were processed through the agency’s Consolidated Administration and Process of Entries (CAPE) since the ACE program’s launch on April 20, accounting for $121.75 billion in both potential and certified refunds.

Customs and Border Protection on July 13 provided an updated Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Development and Deployment Schedule to the trade. Specifically, the NCBFAA Customs Committee wants to bring to the attention of our customs broker members, as well as their importer clients, the Post Summary Correction (PSC) and single pay through ABI functionality which is scheduled for deployment on July 25.

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on July 10 released for public inspection a Final Rule due to be published on July 14 that amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to provide enhanced favorable treatment for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under this Final Rule, the UAE will be removed from Country Groups D:3 and D:4, and will be added to Country Group A:5.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has recently published an updated AI Technology Stack Glossary to help Congress and the public better understand AI technology. NCBFAA believes its members might also find the content of this glossary of interest.

The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) will host a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) webinar in August or September on "Navigating FDA's Import Shield." In preparation for this webinar, we are gathering questions and examples from members to help shape FDA’s presentation so that it addresses real-world issues.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) mandatory ACE certificate eFiling launch was never going to be easy, but no one expected the chaos triggered from a confusing CSMS message issued on the morning of the July 8th Go-Live. NCBFAA leaders, led by association’s Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC), will meet with CPSC in the coming week to discuss these concerns.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) changes to the Direct Air Waybill framework became effective July 1, 2026, and may have implications for air freight forwarders. The NCBFAA Air Freight Subcommittee, with Transportation Committee counsel, is reviewing these changes and their potential implications for members. Additional information will be provided as the review continues.

Custom and Border Protection (CBP) in a July 10 Federal Register notice said it has postponed its July 15 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., until Sept. 23. The agency said it will announce further details of the rescheduled meeting in a future Federal Register notice.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome Micielo Logistics Corporation, Transit Ease Parivahan, and Vigilant Global Trade Services which have recently joined our association. We're so excited to have these firms join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

President Trump on July 9 released a proclamation concluding that, for now, no immediate tariffs be imposed under Section 232 on imports of commercial aircraft, jet engines, and their associated parts. The White House ordered the Commerce Department and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to jointly negotiate agreements with trading partners to address the threatened impairment of national security with respect to commercial aircraft, jet engines, and their associated parts from any country.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced to the trade on July 9 that an updated version of the ACE CATAIR AD/CVD Case Information Query V11 was posted under the Chapters: Current Capabilities section on CBP.gov. This updated version includes Manufacturer Details (Output RC Record) and Foreign Exporter Details (Output RD-Record).