Greetings all,
 
I write today with a short note of clarification regarding the recent announcement on tariff deferment by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As you may have heard, the CBP announced this week that they are moving forward with a plan to allow the payment date for certain tariffs to be potentially deferred for 90 days. The announcement was extremely narrow, allowing deferment only to importers who could show that "gross receipts of such importer for March 13-31, 2020 or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019."

Unfortunately, no tariffs that are the result of an enforcement action, which includes the section 301 tariffs that affect wine, are included. As stated in the announcement:

This temporary postponement also does not apply to... any merchandise subject to one or more of the following: antidumping duties (assessed pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1673 et seq.), countervailing duties (assessed pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.), duties assessed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862), duties assessed pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2251 et seq.), and duties assessed pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.). 

Things are in flux at the moment. It is possible there is a small upside to this announcement, as the administration has now officially acknowledged that tariff relief needs to be a part of the conversation with respect to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, they denied this very publicly. There will be continued pressure from a range of groups to offer more generous tariff relief, including the Chamber of Commerce and other large national organizations. There is support among many in Congress for tariff relief, but specific members of the executive branch were strongly opposed. That this piece has moved forward suggests it is possible that argument is losing some ground, which could make tariff relief more of a possibility.

We now believe the most likely scenario for relief in the midst of this situation lies with Congress and with departments of the executive branch, rather than solely limited to USTR. We will be discussing possibilities over the next several days, including with advisors close to the White House and congressional leadership. It's clear we have a great deal of work to do to get to where we need to be, but we plan on working diligently in this regard.

I will keep you updated as we learn more.

Best regards
 
Ben Aneff