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The protracted quest of Mr. Byungmin Chae to have his 2018 Customs Broker License Examination results changed to a passing grade came to an end when the Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari in October. Mr. Chae’s case, if nothing else, proved he possesses ample persistence and determination. The court filing states that his original score on the April 2018 exam was 65%, with 75% or higher being needed for a passing grade. He filed a timely appeal to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requesting that his answers to 13 of the questions originally marked wrong be deemed correct. Subsequent to his appeal, CBP announced that all test takers would be given credit for 3 particular questions, 2 of which Mr. Chae had been marked wrong on originally. This raised his score to 67.5%. CBP then denied his appeal request for the other 11 questions. Mr. Chae then appealed this decision to the Office of Trade. The Office of Trade granted his appeal for 3 of the questions, raising his score to 71.25%, but still short of a passing grade. Undaunted, Mr. Chae proceeded to file a petition with the Court of International Trade (CIT) as allowed by the regulations.
The CIT gave him credit for one more of the contested questions, raising his total of correct answers to 58 of the 60 he would need for a passing grade. Still undaunted, Mr. Chae filed an appeal of the CIT decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asking for 3 questions to be further reviewed. The Appeals Court gave him credit for one of the questions, raising his correct answer total to 59 of the 60 needed. However, the Supreme Court denial of his certiorari request ended the appeals process, terminating his case and giving new meaning to the phrase “so close, yet so far…”.
In an Executive Order published on March 24, 2025, the administration has announced 25% tariffs on countries that import oil from Venezuela. The order states that “On or after April 2, 2025, a tariff of 25 percent may be imposed on all goods imported into the United States from any country that imports Venezuelan oil...” These duties will be supplemental to duties already imposed such as IEEPA, Section 232, Section 301 China tariffs, etc.
Additionally the President signed an executive order on March 26 applying Section 232 duties to automobiles, light trucks and auto parts (such as transmissions/powertrain parts, engines and engine parts etc.). The rate of duty will be 25% and this will go into effect starting April 3. It will not apply to USMCA parts until a process has been established to account for the non-US content of auto parts. If additional parts are to be tariffed, there will be a Federal Register notice as soon as practicable after the Commerce Secretary’s decision, and the tariffs will be collected one day after that notice.
Finally in response to a question yesterday, the President indicated that Lumber Tariffs may come starting on April 2.
Tariffs on Imports
Note this information is subject to change
Canada
• 25% IEEPA tariff on goods not meeting USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) rules of origin.
• 10% IEEPA tariff on potash not meeting USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) rules of origin.
• 10% IEEPA tariff on energy not meeting USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) rules of origin.
• IEEPA tariffs became effective March 4, 2025.
• March 7, 2025 the carve out for USMCA became effective.
• USMCA qualified goods can be entered without the additional IEEPA rate.
• There’s no mechanism to recover duties paid from March 4 through March 6 on USMCA goods.
• If eligible for USMCA based on USMCA rules of origin, then IEEPA tariff will not apply.
Mexico
• 25% IEEPA tariff on goods not meeting USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) rules of origin.
• IEEPA tariffs became effective March 4, 2025.
• March 7, 2025 the carve out for USMCA became effective.
• USMCA qualified goods can be entered without the additional IEEPA rate.
• There’s no mechanism to recover duties paid from March 4 through March 6 on USMCA goods.
• If eligible for USMCA based on USMCA rules of origin, then IEEPA tariff will not apply.
China
• IEEPA 20% tariff on all imports.
• Was initially 10% but was increased to 20% on March 4, 2025.
• Started on February 4, 2025.
• Goods on final leg destined to the US prior to February 1 and arriving before March 7, 2025 were eligible for an exemption on the IEEPA tariff.
• Existing Section 301 tariffs still in affect on top of IEEPA tariffs.
• Tariffs stack including IEEPA, 301 and 232 tariffs.
• Existing Section 301 exclusions are still in effect until their expiry date.
Section 232: Steel & Aluminum Tariffs
• All non-US steel and aluminum tariffs are 25% regardless of origin
• 25% tariffs expanded to include derivative products.
• No more exclusion process
• No Drawback allowed
• End of quota agreements with affected countries
• FTZ admissions must be in Privileged Foreign Status
• Listing of affected HTS codes and their corresponding chapter 99 program tariff can be found at the link below.
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)
• Grants the U.S. President authority to regulate commerce in response to national emergencies.
• Used to impose economic sanctions, restrict trade, or freeze assets of individuals, companies, or governments.
• Aims to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.
• No drawback allowed
JAS Forwarding (USA) Inc. Compliance Team is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a webinar on all things tariffs on March 25, 2025, at 3PM Eastern time.
On the agenda, we will cover Canada tariffs, Mexico tariffs, China tariffs, Steel & Aluminum, reciprocal tariffs and much more.
Our own Laurie Arnold and Scott Cassell will discuss tariffs and answer questions. Check out our webinar flyer and the link to the registration page below.
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