USMCA – Call for Comments
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) is inviting public comments on the operation and implementation of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), including compliance issues, trade balance, market access, and strategies for strengthening North American competitiveness. Written comments are due by November 3rd, 2025 and can be submitted here.
There will be a public hearing, scheduled for November 17th, 2025 at 10am in the Main Hearing Room at the US International Trade Commission. You can see the original FRN and instructions for how to attend the public hearing here.
Tariffs on India-Origin Products
We’ve seen misleading information in the market for the tariff levels on products from India. To clarify, we want to confirm that, in addition to the IEEPA Reciprocal country-specific Tariff for India of 25%, the IEEPA Russian Oil Tariff (25%) applied to those items with a country-of-origin India went into effect on August 27th, 2025. This additional IEEPA tariff takes effect when either one or both conditions below are not satisfied.
- Cargo must be loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transport prior to entry into the United States before 12:01 am EDT on August 27th, 2025.
- The cargo is entered for consumption, or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 am EDT on August 7th, 2025, but before 12:01 am EDT on September 17, 2025.
Therefore, any cargo that arrives today (17 Sep 2025) or later will be subject to the IEEPA Reciprocal Tariff for India (25%) plus the IEEPA Russian Oil Tariff (25%).
There are some exemptions listed under Annex II here.
New Online Bill Payment Option with CBP
On September 13th, 2025, Customs and Border Protection launched a secure Pay.gov online form for bill payments through ACE Collections. This new option will:
- Allow payment of CBP bill numbers starting with 4, 6, or 7
- Enable up to 10 bills to be paid in one transaction via ACH Debit
- Reduce reliance on paper checks
The payment portal is here.
Mandatory eFiling Deadline is July 8th, 2026
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will require importers to electronically file Certificates of Compliance for regulated consumer products starting July 8th, 2026. For products imported through Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs), the requirement begins January 8th, 2027. In preparation for these dates, the CPSC has shared some updates:
- eFiling Product Registry 1.12 – the registry now supports bulk uploads via API or CSV, and offers improved lab/testing data handling. Users will find it much easier to manage product collections
- FTZ Guidance – CPSC has published instructions for FTZ operators on how to provide certificate data through CBP’s ACE system
Importers are encouraged to join the voluntary eFiling stage now to test systems and ensure they are prepared ahead of the deadline. Sign-up by submitting a request to: efilingpilot@cpsc.gov. Requests to participate in the Beta Pilot test should contain the subject heading: “Beta Pilot: Application to participate in Expanded PGA Message Set Test.”
