Monday Morning eBriefing

After identifying Vietnam as a Priority Foreign Country in the 2026 Special 301 Report, which was published on April 30, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on May 29 initiated an investigation of Vietnam under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. “The investigation will seek to determine whether Vietnam’s persistent failure to resolve long-standing concerns about intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a June 1 Federal Register notice said based on its investigation of Brazil’s trade practices that certain products from the country which are imported into the U.S. should be subject to a Section 301 tariff of 25%, with exemptions for those goods already subject to Section 232 tariffs and certain products listed in the Annex provided at the end of the notice.

President Trump in a proclamation on June 1 announced that his administration is adjusting certain Section 232 metal-based product tariffs which become effective at 12:01 a.m. ET on June 8. The proclamation adjusts the tariffs on agricultural equipment, such combines and harvesters, as well as certain other equipment including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for residential use, from 25% to 15%, while it expands the existing category of industrial equipment subject to a 15% tariff to include mobile industrial equipment, like bulldozers and forklifts, when imported from trade deal countries that are entitled to such treatment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 29 filed its intent to appeal the Court of International Trade’s injunction to refund all the IEEPA tariffs, adding that the Trump Administration will "seek a stay of the injunction except as to the particular importer plaintiffs in each case in which the Court has entered the injunction.”

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeff Goettman of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on May 28-29 led a U.S. delegation to Mexico City for the first bilateral negotiating round related to the first Joint Review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)with Mexico which included negotiations on economic security and rules of origin for key industrial goods.

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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 26 submitted its status update in Euro-Notions, the lead IEEPA refund case, to the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT). While the update does not provide information on subsequent phases, CBP does provide that, “approximately $85 billion in both potential and certified refunds have been accepted for processing in the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE).

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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 26 updated its IEEPA FAQ page with two new responses, both addressing reconciliation. NCBFAA notes in particular the advice to hold off on filing reconciliation unless your filing deadline is within 30 days.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 27 provided guidance to the trade regarding the modification of certain Section 232 tariffs applied to aircraft components, automobile parts and wood products of Taiwan. On May 28, the Commerce Secretary and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published a Federal Register Notice, “Implementing Certain Tariff-Related Elements of a Trade and Security Agreement Between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States,” to modify certain Section 232 tariffs applied to certain aircraft components, automobile parts and wood products of Taiwan, effective for goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. ET on May 1.

The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) recently marked two years since the agency began implementing the Strengthening Organics Enforcement Final Rule requiring Import Certificates for organic products. With the first full calendar year (2025) of data now available, NOP summarized the program's success.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome Freightmate AI and TGP Logistics, 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!

NCBFAA is proud to release our latest white paper on Artificial Intelligence and Automated Technology integration within the customs broker and freight forwarding industry.

In a recent CSMS message (#68634647), CBP announced that an updated version of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Message Implementation Guide (IG) is now available and can be found in the Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section of the CATAIR website.

CBP updated their CAPE FAQ document on 5/20/26 (link) with new questions and responses. CBP also recently published CSMS # 68228015 - New ACE Portal Account Application Now Available (link to the CSMS) with the following information.

In September 2025, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued the "Affiliates" Interim Final Rule that expanded their End-User controls to also cover affiliates of entities listed on the Entity List, Military End-User (MEU) List, or Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. The NCBFAA Export Compliance Subcommittee commented on this rule in October 2025, but the rule was subsequently paused.

This update regarding the May 14 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, is brought to our NCBFAA members with permission from the Transportation Intermediary Association (TIA) and its CEO Chris Burroughs.

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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on May 18 advised the trade that an updated version of the ACE CATAIR AD/CVD Case Information Query V11 has been posted under Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section on CBP.gov. In addition, the agency posted an updated version of the ACE CATAIR Error Dictionary V46 under Draft Chapters: Future Capabilities section on CBP.gov.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome North American Drawback Services and Yvonne Cantu Hyslop dba YCH Customs Broker, 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!