n a tweet published on December 31, President Trump announced that he would "be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15." This signing is scheduled to take place at the White House and will include high level Chinese representatives. In the tweet, the President also announced that he would be going to Beijing at a later date to begin Phase Two of the negotiations.

On December 13, the United States and China came to terms on a Phase One trade agreement that will require China to make structural reforms and other changes to their economic and trade philosophies in the areas of "intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange." This agreement also requires China to make "substantial additional purchases of U.S. goods and services in the coming years" as well as establishing a strong dispute resolution system. In return, the U.S. is required to modify its Section 301 tariff actions.

In a December 6 CSMS message, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued guidance to the Trade on the fifth round of product exclusions for Tranche 3 of the Section 301 investigation.

On November 26, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced a list of new Section 301 product exclusions from the third list of products from China. These exclusions are retroactive from September 24, 2018 and will continue to August 7, 2020. U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP) will issue instructions on entry guidance and implementation. The product list has "32 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 39 separate exclusion requests."

On November 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued guidance on submitting entries containing products granted exclusions from the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs.

On December 17, 2018, the Federal Maritime Commission ("Commission") issued a notice of proposed rulemaking ("NPRM") in its Docket No. 18-11 to somewhat amend the OTI regulations. Although the NPRM was primarily administrative in nature, the NCBFAA filed comments opposing any reduction in the term of OTI licenses.

In the November 13 edition of the Federal Register, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced a new set of Section 301 product exclusions on the third set of tariffs on Chinese goods. According to the notice, the "product exclusions announced in this notice will apply as of the September 24, 2018, effective date of the $200 billion action, to August 7, 2020."

On October 31, the NCBFAA submitted comments to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for an Interpretive Ruling on Assessing Demurrage and Detention. As a member of the coalition that originally filed a petition with the FMC almost two years ago, the NCBFAA has been outspoken in its desire to seek change to the current practices that do not encourage the efficient movement of containers. The Association appreciates the FMC's willingness to improve the current industry detention and demurrage practices and supports the proposed rule with a few modifications.

Last week, the NCBFAA was advised that the testing proctor had erroneously posted a "failed" message for applicants logging onto their post-examination system. This message does not reflect the official test result; the message has now been changed to reflect that the test was "taken" and the "fail" message has been removed. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the only source from which to receive official test results and notification of your pass/fail results. A CSMS message addressing this issue will be issued shortly.

As part of our on-going discussions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to improve the Customs Broker License Examination, the NCBFAA is soliciting feedback from our members regarding the October 17 exam and their overall exam experience. If you or someone you know participated in the most recent exam, please share any positive stories or problems you encountered with NCBFAA Executive Vice President Megan Montgomery.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. is tracking the outcome of U.S.-Vietnam trade deal, ongoing U.S.-Canadian trade discussions, and CBP tariff guidance updates for the association's customs broker members and their importer clients.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), effective July 1, revoked the Syria Sanctions as authorized in Executive Order (EO) 14312.

On July 16 at 2 p.m. ET, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a special “virtual office hours” session to discuss challenges and experiences of customs brokers and industry members who have participated in the CPSC e-Filing pilot.

With so much focus on trade in Washington, D.C., these days, NCBFAA anticipates that the 2025 Government Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7-9, will sell out of our room block at the Grand Hyatt Washington well before the room rate cut-off date of Aug. 7.

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

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. is tracking the outcome of U.S.-Vietnam trade deal, ongoing U.S.-Canadian trade discussions, and CBP tariff guidance updates for the association's customs broker members and their importer clients.

On July 16 at 2 p.m. ET, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a special “virtual office hours” session to discuss challenges and experiences of customs brokers and industry members who have participated in the CPSC e-Filing pilot.

With so much focus on trade in Washington, D.C., these days, NCBFAA anticipates that the 2025 Government Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7-9, will sell out of our room block at the Grand Hyatt Washington well before the room rate cut-off date of Aug. 7.

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

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome 7 Star Logistics Solutions, Farris Customs Brokers, Infinito Global Trade Network, and Karl Gross Logistics (USA), 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 NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. is tracking the outcome of U.S.-Vietnam trade deal, ongoing U.S.-Canadian trade discussions, and CBP tariff guidance updates for the association's customs broker members and their importer clients.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), effective July 1, revoked the Syria Sanctions as authorized in Executive Order (EO) 14312.

FIATA’s new Best Practice Guide on Maritime Contracting helps freight forwarders navigate this landscape by clarifying the implications of acting under different capacities when engaging with ocean carriers.

On July 16 at 2 p.m. ET, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a special “virtual office hours” session to discuss challenges and experiences of customs brokers and industry members who have participated in the CPSC e-Filing pilot.

With so much focus on trade in Washington, D.C., these days, NCBFAA anticipates that the 2025 Government Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7-9, will sell out of our room block at the Grand Hyatt Washington well before the room rate cut-off date of Aug. 7.