Washington, D.C. --

On April 7, 2022, Congressional leaders named the conferees who will reconcile the America COMPETES Act and United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA).   The following links list the conferees:

This is a large number of legislators who will be hashing out the differences and coming up with compromises if the legislation is to be completed by Memorial Day.  

EMTC has signed onto a multi-association letter to Congressional leadership asking that the Import Security and Fairness Act restricting shipments that can be imported under the de minimis provision (19 U.S.C. section1321) be removed from the America COMPETES Act.

EMTC will report updates as they become available.

USPS INCREASES IMPACT ECOMMERCE The Postal Service will introduce new fees on April 3, 2022: Nonstandard Fees and Dimension Noncompliance Fee.  According to the Federal Register, the Nonstandard Fees will impact domestic retail and commercial mail that falls into specific categories

USPS Will Add New Shipping Fees, Starting April 3 — Best Life (bestlifeonline.com)

UPS has put a halt to some of its operations in two southern Chinese cities, and is holding imported shipments in other provinces. The recent China lockdown due to increase in Covid cases is bringing significant disruption to the production and delivery of goods sold online to other countries. UPS Suspending Services in China Could Cause Delays — Best Life (bestlifeonline.com) 

Washington, DC -

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) releases Volume 4 Issue 1 of its Trade News Snapshot.  Periodically, CBP issues a newsletter with highlights on trade issues, court cases, Federal Register notices, enforcement actions, and listing of policy updates and messages to the trade community.

To review past issues of CBP Trade News Snapshot, visit Trade News Snapshot | U.S. Customs and Border Protection (cbp.gov)

EMTC is launching a grassroots campaign to engage e-sellers and e-commerce marketplace platforms to add their voice to oppose provisions in the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521) that will negatively impact e-commerce.

Click the FACT SHEET to learn more about the proposed legislation.

To add your name to the list of companies advocating against these provisions, fill-in your information in EMTC's E-commerce Legislation Grassroots Campaign form.

EMTC joined twelve (12) industry trade associations asking the House leadership to remove de minimis restrictions (section 103001 - Import Security and Fairness Act) from the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521).

If the provision remains in the final bill, goods from China will no longer be eligible for duty-free and simplified entry under 19 U.S.C. section 1321.

A copy of the letter can be found at: Association Letter re De Minimis

The U.S. House of Representatives released the America COMPETES Act which includes 899 pages of trade measures, including a bar on de minimis shipments from China, out of the 3,000 page bill.  EMTC intends to draft comments on the bill.

Please note that although the bill number assigned to the America COMPETES Act is H.R. 4521, we expect this bill text to be replaced with the America COMPETES Act.  You can download the Executive Summary of the bill.

The America COMPETES Act is intended to be the House's counterpoint to the Senate's U.S Innovation and Competition Act (S. 1260) which passed in June 2021.  We expect the House will try to move swiftly on this legislation.

International Trade Today (Warren Communications) - Washington, DC

On January 19, 2022, Mara Lee of International Trade Today featured an article on "Republicans in Congress Concerned About Proposed de Minimis Carve-Out": 

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said he knows that Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is sincere in his concern that the more generous de minimis threshold since 2016 has had unintended consequences. Blumenauer was one of just 24 House Democrats who supported the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act that raised the threshold to $800. Blumenauer introduced a bill (see 2201180053) that would bar importers of Chinese goods from using de minimis, and would also end the ability to send exports to Canada and Mexico to wait in warehouses until a U.S. buyer makes an online purchase.

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E-Merchants Trade Council says that Blumenauer’s bill would have a major impact on e-commerce, both by ending the ability to ship imported goods from Canadian and Mexican warehouses and take advantage of de minimis, and because sellers would have to pay customs brokers for processing their imports.  EMTC says that it typically costs $50 to $150 for each imported shipment.

See the full article at: Republicans in Congress Concerned About Proposed de Minimis Carve-Out itt-2022-01-19.pdf

EMTC has posted an Issue Alert analyzing the Import Security and Fairness Act which was revised upon introduction as H.R. 6412 on January 18, 2022.  The major changes: 1) narrowed the scope to bar de minimis shipments from China; and 2) bars de minimis shipments from distribution or processing facilities in a foreign country.

EMTC is engaging with Chairman Blumenauer's and HWM Staff to discuss the impact of the bill on e-sellers, e-commerce marketplace platforms, the supply chain, and ultimately, consumers.

EMTC will file comments on H.R. 6412 and we urge you to join EMTC to add your voice as an e-seller to this advocacy effort.

EMTC has learned that Representative Blumenauer, Chair of House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, plans to introduce a bill next week that bars de minimis provision for low value goods from "non-market economies" which primarily affects goods from China.  Click the link to EMTC's Import Alert on the Import Security and Fairness Act for an analysis of how this bill may affect your business.

Back on December 16, 2021, EMTC filed a written statement for the record with the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee for the December 2nd hearing on "Supporting U.S. Workers, Businesses, and the Environment in the Face of Unfair Chinese Trade Practices".  

EMTC will file comments on this bill and we urge e-sellers to join EMTC to contribute what the impact the bill will have on their business.