US Trade and Investment Policy Updates
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What is DrawbackContact usIt has been a while since we have discussed recent news regarding U.S. trade and investment policies. Things continue to change rapidly, and it is important to understand what is going on for all importers and exporters. The Presidential Administration has released numerous trade proclamations, executive orders, and has signed major legislation with trade implications within the past couple of months. Below are some of the developments you should keep an eye on. At the end of last month, January 21, 2020, the Presidential Administration issued a new executive order on importer of record criteria. This executive order is intended to implement the administration’s policy to prevent the circumvention of U.S. laws and the avoidance of U.S. duties, taxes and fees in e-commerce transactions. On January 29, 2020 the president signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that implemented legislation into law. The USMCA will take effect of the first day of the third month after the last country notifies the others that it has completed all of their domestic procedures for ratification. On January 15, 2020 the United States and China concluded their Phase One Agreement. China has agreed to purchase $200 billion more of U.S. manufactured goods than they did in 2017. The agreement is called the Economic and Trade Agreement Between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China. On December 13, 2019 the Department of Justice came out with their revised policy regarding voluntary self-disclosures of export control and sanctions violations (VSD Policy). The VSD Policy encourages companies to voluntarily disclose all potentially criminal export control and sanctions violations directly to the Department of Justice. These are only a few of the recent changes that The Administration has made. As an import or export business, it is crucial to stay updated on all of these changes. For more information stay updated on our monthly blog.Mitigating the Impact of Tariffs
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Importers and exporters within the United States are looking for ways to mitigate the impact of recent tariffs that have been levied on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods. Though policy changes seem to be continuously changing month to month, there are ways to avoid or reduce duties. Below are a few strategies that companies can use to work around these duties. Businesses can request to exclude specific products from the tariffs through the Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In order to do this, businesses must explain how and why their imported goods are critical to the United States economy. When a convincing case has been made, the request has been approved. Beforehand, businesses need to review the exclusions granted on List 1-3 to determine if their own imports are covered. Businesses can shift operations away from one country to another to escape duty increases. Essentially, businesses should change the imported product’s country of origin. For example, the United States Customs and Border Protection has found that the complex assembly of numerous parts, modules, or subassemblies into dedicated machines results in a substantial transformation of the components so that their country of origin is where the finished product was produced. This might be an expensive and difficult change, but it could result in saving on increased tariffs. Businesses can file for duty drawback. This is probably the most effective way to get back money from these tariffs. Using resources like those offered from Dutycalc can help businesses get a refund of up to 99% of duties and fees paid on imported goods. Use these strategies to help mitigate the impact of tariffs. For more information on anything regarding the import and export industry, please reach out to us here at Dutycalc.
Starting Your Import Export Business
Duty Drawback Software | Import Export Consulting | Processing Filing | Full Service
Starting your own business is hard. Starting your own import/export business is even harder. There is much more to understand and things can go really bad really fast if you are not careful. That being said, if you have the experience, education, grit, and drive to take on this industry you can be successful. If you are looking to get into the import/export industry by starting your own business here are a few pointers that we recommend you follow.
You need a strong online presence. Without an online presence you will not be able to have a networked import/export business. The goal of this is to balance the flow of communications, sell products online, and most importantly build your customer base to drive profits for your international business. Having a professional blog on your website will allow you to have a continuous flow of engaging communications with your clients, something that most customers want in brand new companies.
Along with an online presence you need to find out what you want to sell. This includes understanding which markets are good to enter. We recommend that you find a product or industry that you are passionate about and that you think could sell in international markets. Looking for which markets to enter is where your trend-spotting skills come in to play. In general, the best products are ones that are just starting to become popular or show some promise to being so in the future. Do your research and think before you begin because finding the right product and the right market is probably the biggest decision you will make.
When you have your online presence and product/industry decided, focus on your logistics. Logistics is the most complex aspect of importing and exporting. Think about it, you have to take a product created somewhere and sell it somewhere else. For example, how do the grapes from the vineyard in South Africa make it to the wine glasses of drinkers in California? Every successful business has a strong logistics team, plan, and strategy that makes the flow very easy for all employees. When you get your logistics down to a science, you will be ready to hit the ground running.
Building a strong online presence, figuring out what to sell and where, and getting logistics down is all very important in this industry. However, these are only three of the many aspects that make a successful import/export business. Bottom line is that this industry is a complex system that requires nothing but hard work and determination.
For more recommendations or for more general information on the import/export industry give us a call or browse our website.
Partner with DutyCalc
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When it comes to dealing with money, it is important to work with reliable and trustworthy partners. Whether you’re running a small business or a Fortune 500 company, you don’t want to run the risk of losing money because of a bad partnership. Good financial partnerships are critical especially for companies in the import/export industry because of all the details regarding drawback. If you and your business are in the import/export industry and in need of a dependable partner to help with drawback, look no further than DutyCalc. Here are 3 of the most important factors that make DutyCalc the best partners for importers and exporters.
DutyCalc has experience. Collectively, the DutyCalc team has over 4 decades of experience in duty drawback. Part of DutyCalc’s experience in duty drawback has come from partnerships with some of the biggest companies you can think of. Companies like FedEx, Fender, and TaylorMade are all current or previous clients of DutyCalc. We understand how to manage duty drawback for large companies, and we understand all of the necessary steps in the process based on our experience. Put your trust in us as we have the knowledge of how to be successful.
DutyCalc has a proven track record. Whether it was the full service drawback or the software system, Drawback.NET, we have helped clients from around the country claim drawback without fail. We help clients claim up to 99% of duty drawback! DutyCalc systems are efficient and cut down processing times significantly. Our process works and will be worth the investment. Refer to our Testimonials to see our successful track record with our clients.
Last but not least, partner with DutyCalc because we always put customers first. Providing the best customer service is our number one goal so, as a client, understand that your needs come first. If you don’t understand part of the drawback process, we’ll walk you through every step. If you’re running into technical problems with Drawback.NET, call our support team and they won’t hang up until your problem is fixed. Happy customers are what drives our business, so making them happy is our number one priority. By partnering with DutyCalc, you and your needs will always come first.
For those in the import/export industry, partner with DutyCalc as we are partners that you can rely on and trust. We have experience with some of the largest companies on Earth, we have a proven track record, and you will always get great customer service. For more information on what DutyCalc has to offer, give us a call! We look forward to working with you.
Section 301 status
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The new Section 301 tariffs have caused drastic changes within the industry. Importers and exporters are scrambling to obtain the newest information as there are thousands of product listings that are affected by Trump’s trade changes. Below is an update on the current status of Lists 1-3.
List 1, which contains $34 billion worth of imports, has been effective since July 7, 2018. List 1 originally had over 1,000 tariff lines but ended up being condensed down to 818 items.
List 2, which contains $16 billion worth of imports, has been effective since August 23, 2018. List 2 originally had over 284 tariff lines but ended up being condensed down to 279 items.
List 3, which contains about $200 billion worth of imports, has been effective since September 24, 2018. List 3 originally had over 6,000 tariff lines but ended up being condensed down to 5,745 items.
Though these lists of tariffs have been implemented, The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has provided an opportunity for the public to request for product exclusion. Giving companies the opportunity to address situations that allow exclusion of a specific product within a subheading but not the tariff subheading as a whole. Because of such a high volume of requests, the USTR is still currently in the process of posting final exclusions.
To take full advantage of duty drawback on the Section 301 duties, check out our full service and software drawback options. Duty Calc has already helped our customers claim thousands of dollars due to these new changes. With the right help, you can easily claim all duties that are available to you.
New changes are still to come in the near future which will continue to impact this industry. Duty Calc will keep all of our customers up to date to the best of our ability. Continue to check back in to the Duty Calc blog for updated information on Section 301 and new tariff information.
Section 301 News
Duty Drawback Software | Import Export Consulting | Processing Filing | Full Service
The recent activity regarding Section 301 tariffs have caused major changes for the import and export industry. List 1 and List 2 have been in effect since July, but the final list has officially been released and has been effective since September 24th of this year. List 3 includes a variety of imports from China which include products like chemicals, textiles, metal, and electronics. Tariffs for List 3 were set at an ad valorem rate of 10 percent but will increase to 25 percent at the beginning of the new year. List 3 targets about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and unlike List 1 and List 2, there is no indication that there will be any kind of exclusion process for products in the final list.
Though List 3 was released less than a month ago, the administration threatened China with a potential List 4. This threat by the U.S. was publicly stated saying that if China retaliates against farmers or any other industries, they will begin to launch a process that aims to increase tariffs on an additional $267 billion worth of goods.
Because of these drastic changes in the industry, claiming duty is much more compelling. That being said claiming drawback is no simple process. Duty Calc is your number one resource for claiming up to 99% of the duty paid upon import. Through Duty Calc you have a full-service drawback option or, like many of our customers, you can do it yourself by using our easy to use drawback software. Our customer service team is always here to help so feel free to contact us with any questions. Our contact information can be found on the home page. Get a head start in claiming all the drawback available to you through our services. Act before it is too late.
