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Reports from the PCC Mission to Washington D.C.Raymond Hong, Brenda Custer-Espeleta and Sung Wook Lee2019 Pacific Coast Council’s (PCC) Mission to DC By Raymond Hong Attendees from CBFANC: Chris Ramos, Evey Hwang, Felicia Addison, Peter Gong, Sarah Stroth, Brenda Custer-Espeleta, Sung (John) Wook Lee, and Raymond Hong Hosts: Peter & Debbie Friedmann, Ray Bucheger, Spencer Young, and Stephen Hudson Saturday, March 30th, 2019
All of the associations met at the Phoenix Park Hotel Ballroom to provide updates from their associations and have a PCC Mission Briefing to prepare for the lobbying in the House and Capitol.
We had breakfast with Hun Quach – VP for International Trade, Retail Industry Leaders Association. She gave us a quick speech about lobbying on the hill and how de minimus should stay at $800 in EV as it’s good for retail/e-commerce. After we disbursed from the other associations the CBFANC group separated into separate groups as there were several scheduling conflicts during the day. We sometimes had multiple appointments at the same time or in separate buildings. The first staffers I met with were alongside Chris Ramos, Felicia Addison, and Peter Gong. First, we met with Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer Goedke, who represents Congressman Mike Thompson (who is on the Ways and Means Committee) she understood our trade asks and agreed with what we said. Then we met with Legislative assistant Art Motta, who represents Congressman Eric Swalwell (and is on the judiciary and permanent select committee on intelligence), coincidentally Peter and Felicia either work/live in Congressman’s Swalwell’s’ district so they were able to talk about their own personal experiences and how it relates to trade. After that we met directly with Congresswoman Jackie Speier (who is on the armed services, oversight and reform, and permanent select committee on intelligence) where all the CBFANC attendees were able to come along with Peter Friedmann where we were able to discuss local fumigation issues in Oakland, USMCA, and NAFTA. After a quick lunch we regrouped, and Evey, Brenda, John and I met with Ian Foley who represents Congressman Devin Nunes who is a ranking member of the committee for Intelligence, as well as the ways and means committee. We talked about NAFTA and how Congressman Nunes is for trade and wants to pass the USMCA. Regarding the section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, Ian advised that there hasn’t been much public conversation about this issue as many people are quite tight lipped which means talks are going on in private. Next, we split apart again, and Evie and I went over to meet with Sarah Jackson who is the policy associate for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and we had quite an adventure. We thought we were having our meeting at Pelosi’s Longworth office, but we were “diverted” to her Capitol office. The diversion meant a partial escorted walk thru tunnel with a security pass. The meeting was very productive as we learned just how much of a leader Pelosi is in terms of getting the democrats to vote as a whole. (We got a “promise” that she’d later share vote numbers on USMCA.) We also met with Dan Naske from Congressman’s John Garamendi’s office (who represents armed services, transportation and infrastructure). Overall USMCA might not pass until as per the democrats until the republicans concede on the following issues which were: Prescription drugs, raising the labor standards in Mexico, maintaining environment standards. Democrats will listen to Pelosi so if she rallies them together for a vote, they will probably go with what she says. Ambassador Robert Lighthizer provides regular content for the Democrats and the speaker respects him; the freshmen class is learning a lot of substantial content from him. The main issues we talked about were the USMCA, Section 232 Tariffs, Section 301 China Tariffs and Section 321/De Minimis. The topline message was that trade creates jobs and tariffs hurt the economy. This was a great learning experience and quite information to get a first-hand look at how policy is made and how things get done in the Capitol. I would definitely urge anyone interested in politics to take this opportunity to go to the next mission to DC in 2020. PCC Mission to Washington March 30 to April 2, 2019 Notes by Brenda Espeleta I attended the PCC Mission to Washington this year after having not attended for about ten years. This mission was much better than I remember. It was very well planned, with great content and many guest speakers. Peter Friedmann’s office, including Spencer and Stephen, did an incredible job keeping everyone on track and dealt with the changing schedules seamlessly. I enjoyed the trip and learned so much. One of my favorite parts was the dinner at The Monocle with the special guests from CBP. The guests all rotate tables between courses so more people can have dialogue with them. So, a few bites of salad and off they go to the next table. I sat with the San Diego coalition and have new appreciation for the speed and chaos they encounter daily, and their close relationships with their clients. Brenda Smith of CBP also gave great insight to the illegal immigration deluge that really is causing CBP to urgently make alternative plans. When someone hits the border and requests asylum, CBP has only 72 hours to hold them. And at many of the smaller southern border crossings they have no facilities to hold families. If more than 100 immigrants hit one of the small border points the few CBP inspectors are left to accommodate the masses. And some of the migrants are hostile. Certainly no one wants the border closed so the urgent actions CBP is taking to reallocate staff to deal with the influx seems like one of the best options. I have to give compliments to the experienced CBFANC teammates who have been doing this for many years: Evey Hwang, Felicia Addison, Chris Ramos, Sarah Stroth, and Peter Gong. Their advice was always spot on, from things like wear comfortable shoes, to let’s divide and conquer but keep the separate teams on the same side of the hill. We covered a lot of ground and a lot of congressmen and senators’ offices. It was a lot of effort, exhausting actually, but also fun, and so educational. I would highly encourage everyone to go, at least once. There’s no better way to see democracy in action and feel like your voice can and does make a difference. Thanks so much for the stipend offered to attend. I hope to go again next year. Here are my notes from the various sessions. PCC Board Meeting, Sunday, March 30 San Diego
5106 & ACE if IOR has input their banking info into ACE a 5106 update wipes it all away. Be aware. If sending a 5106 update send all the info filed previously. Entry type 86 is it Customs Business? If Sec 321 is a manifest filing is not. Is Deminimus Customs Business? It is not an exception from entry and will require a 10 digit HTS, which per Customs makes it Customs Business. FDA has CSMS msg on what is Deminimus and how to handle. Customs brokers should get access to file Sec 321’s via the manifest route. Type 86 does not need an IOR, can be left blank unless it is required by the PGA. And no census data is filed. Expect more AES penalties. China 301- China is a bad actor. Trump wants to fix the intellectual property violations and forced technology transfer. The CN301 tariffs probably won’t go away even if CN agrees to things as the US will want CN to prove they’ve changed. Bills currently in line to limit the president’s authority with regard to tariffs, but not much chance these will pass both house and senate. Customs Meeting, Monday, April 1 John Leonard
On the Hill, Tuesday, April 2 Breakfast with Hun Quach, VP, Trade Policy, Retail Industry Leaders Association. Hun was so engaging and knew how to prep us for our short time with the legislators or their aides. You could tell she loved what she does and is very passionate about making a difference. Details of our day on the Hill are above. PCC Mission to D.C. 2019 By: Sung Wook Lee Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to join our esteemed members and our sister organizations from San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle ports, to the Pacific Coast Council mission to Washington DC between March 31 – April 2, 2019. This was my first time on a legislative mission to Washington DC, and I leaned a lot about how our Federal Government works. The meetings with CBP, FMC and various trade groups all working in conjunction to develop a working policy was educational to me. Additionally, being able to meet members of Congress or their staff at their offices was empowering as a citizen, a voter, and a professional in a industry that matters in the grand scheme of things. So thank you for that. I did not make it to the Saturday, March 30th party with Peter and Debbie, but came in early on Sunday, March 31 to the Board Meeting & Mission Briefing. During the morning meeting, a representative from each regional association reported on what their organizations were doing for the 2019 season. Summary of each association is as follows.
Balance of the discussion was of 5106 issues, and slow erosion of customs business with DeMinimus going to $800 which seems like it’s a giveaway to Amazon and retailers to ship direct to individual US consumers. At $800 dollars, they can sell direct from Canada or Mexico to any US buyer from small consumable items to washing machines and TV’s. I am really not sure why we are for this as a broker association. It seems like the e-commerce companies such as Amazon, and FEDEX/UPS really want this to relieve themselves of the regulatory burden, and CBP also wants it because they can’t effectively regulate it. It was openly wondered out loud in meetings with CBP if they want to clear customs at all in their 21st Century framework. USMCA was decidedly the main issue for our outreach to members of Congress. Peter and his staff were very helpful in the general discussion to guide us in how we formulate and discuss the finer points of the trade agreement. On Monday, April 1, 2019 I was very surprised that no April fools prank was played… Having said that, morning meeting with CBP was just a blur. Quickly went through with CBP reports on 301, 232 TARIFFS, Role of broker was discussed and consolidating the permit to one national permit, De Minimus was discussed, 5106, drawback and 21st Century Customs Framework. Much was already covered amongst our own board discussion on Sunday. I want to restate the CBP 21st Century Customs Framework. They had a hearing on March 1, 2019 to bring CBP to a modern framework for CBP-TRADE. Part of the Modernization Act to redefine the legal framework of CBP to be a effective regulator and enforcer of trade, technology, data access, supply chain mgmt. totaling 6 themes. They want to be or their computer system to be a self-funded system so they don’t have to rely on annual budgetary whims from Congress or DHS. There will be a second comment period later this year. During lunch, USMCA was discussed with various industry representatives, and FDA spoke about import operations. Afterwards, a quick visit to FMC and met Chair Michael Khouri, and Commissioner Rebecca Dye, of FMC innovation Team. She talked about how to “incentivize good behavior” from the maritime community that it regulates. Cerebral lady that explained that carriers are the real players here, they own or manage the terminals and all the problems importers and OTI’s face is their bad behavior in trying to ring out last cent from the trade community. She sees her job at the FMC as reminding the carrier to facilitate trade and not make it overly difficult and costly to pull containers in a reasonable time period. In the afternoon, we went to the Capitol Hill Club and met with Angela Ellard from House Ways & Means Trade Counsel. A real politico that gave us the ins and outs of the USMCA. Which members of Congress or senators were working on separate bills to the USMCA and why the democrats were raising issues on certain provisions of the trade agreement such as Pharmaceuticals, and labor issues in Mexican auto workers. Tuesday April 2, 2019, we met Hun Quach, VP of Trade Policy, Retail Industry Leaders Association. She also mainly talked about USMCA and how important it was for the retail industry to seal the trade agreement. I asked the first question about how and why de minimis was so important to the retail industry. Her answer wasn’t very satisfactory, but it is my opinion that between Canada, USA and Mexico, the retailers manufacturing in North America can ship their manufactured goods directly to customers with the minimal customs paperwork. Again, not ‘great’ for brokers. We should be mindful about these new trade agreements and free trade agreements as they are really designed. And, with e-commerce technology and postal, courier service, actual buyers can go directly to manufacturers and make their purchases across national boundaries. Generally free trade agreements are designed to bring buyers and sellers together and cut out red tape, regulation, brokers, middlemen. Later in the day I met these Congressional offices.
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| CBFANC Newsletter - April 2019 - Info Expeditor |
