All imports to the United States are required to be backed by a bond, whether it is a single bond or an annual continuous bond. With the additional tariffs now affecting aluminum, steel and a variety of products from China, continuous bonds may near insufficient levels of coverage at a much quicker pace than ever before. Should this happen, the existing bond can be deemed unusable at any moment, forcing the purchase of a higher bond coverage and perhaps single bonds in between. This may not only cause delays in Customs clearance, but also added expense for an importer.
Additionally, the sureties backing the bonds are asking importers to provide advance notice on product that will be shipped that is subject to antidumping (ADD) and countervailing (CVD) duties as these rates are not final until some years later after importation. In that respect, we urge you to consult with our technical team during business hours before shipping any new product outside of the norm- especially when preparing for trade show shipments. Importers who wish to proceed with shipping ADD/CVD subject product must provide us with the quantity, value and frequency in advance so we can alert the surety of the same. In many cases, they will require collateral no matter how small the article may be. Items such as tissue paper, pencils, paperclips, candles, certain fish and shrimp, pasta, certain fibers and some steel articles, to name a few are impacted by the additional duties imposed by ADD/CVD measures. A full list of active ADD/CVD cases is found at :https://usitc.gov/trade_remedy/731_ad_701_cvd/investigations.htm .
Your business’ mailing address is also very important to the sufficiency of an annual bond. Should US Customs and Border Protection reach out to an importer by US Mail and the article is returned as undeliverable, they will immediately render any associated continuous bond to be insufficient, until the address is updated with valid and current information.