U.S. and Vietnam Reach a Trade Deal

by Ryan Markiewicz | Jul 2, 2025 | Global Logistics Alerts

The United States and Vietnam Reach a Trade Agreement – July 2, 2025

On July 2, 2025, President Trump announced that the United States and Vietnam struck a trade agreement that sets 20% tariffs on many of the Southeast Asian country’s exports following last-minute negotiations. The rate is lower than the initial 46% levy Trump announced in April on goods from Vietnam, which was due to take effect next week.

For more information, please visit: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-says-he-has-struck-trade-deal-with-vietnam-2025-07-02/

TMF Increase at Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

by Ryan Markiewicz | Jul 2, 2025 | Global Logistics Alerts

TMF at Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Increase 2.84% on August 1, 2025

On July 1, 2025, the West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) announced that on August 1, 2025, the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will increase by 2.84%. The adjustment matches the increase in longshore wage and assessment rates recently increased in the coastwide contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association.

Beginning August 1, 2025, the TMF will be $38.78 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) and $77.56 for all other size containers. The TMF is charged on non-exempt containers. Containers exempt from the TMF include empty containers; import cargo or export cargo that transits the Alameda Corridor in a container and is subject to a fee imposed by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority; and transshipment cargo. Empty chassis and bobtail trucks are also exempt.

The OffPeak program provides regularly scheduled night or weekend shifts to handle trucks delivering and picking up containers at the 12 container terminals in the two adjacent ports. PierPASS launched the OffPeak program in 2005 to reduce severe cargo-related congestion and air pollution on local streets and highways around the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. More than 64 million truck trips have been diverted to the off-peak shifts since the program’s inception. The container terminal operators mitigate truck traffic at their gates with appointment systems.

The TMF helps offset the cost of operating extended gate hours. Labor costs are the largest single component of extended gate costs.

About PierPASS

PierPASS is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality, and security. The West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) is filed with the Federal Maritime Commission and comprises the 12 international MTOs serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

For more information, please visit: https://www.pierpass.org/

Section 232 Aluminum Import Instructions

by Ryan Markiewicz | Jul 1, 2025 | Global Logistics Alerts

Guidance: Section 232 Aluminum Import Instructions for Reporting Unknown for the Country of Smelt and Cast

Now in effect as of June 28th, 2025, for imports of derivative aluminum subject to Section 232 measures, if importers do not know the country of smelt and/or cast then the importers should report “unknown” in lieu of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the unknown smelt and cast country. When reporting “unknown”, importers will be required to report HTS 9903.85.67 or 9903.85.68, as applicable, and will be assessed the 200 percent Section 232 duties on imports of aluminum from Russia.

Smelt and Cast Country Reporting Instructions:
To report the primary country of smelt, secondary country of smelt, or country of most recent cast, importers must report the ISO code on aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles on all countries subject to Section 232.

Importers/Filers must report “Y” for the primary country of smelt, and/or the secondary country of smelt. Importers/Filers may not report “N” for both the primary country of smelt and the secondary country of smelt.

For the Importer’s Additional Declaration Record Type ’07’ if either the derivative aluminum primary and/or secondary country of smelt or country of cast is unknown, report ‘UN’ (unknown) for the ISO country code. When reporting ‘UN’, the 200 percent Section 232 duties for Russian aluminum will be assessed on the entry summary line.

The ACE Entry Summary Create/Update CATAIR (v105) has been updated with additional technical details and reporting requirements. Also, the Entry Summary Error Dictionary has been updated to include two new errors:

• 856: UNKNOWN ALUM SMELT/CAST CTRY NOT ALLOWED
• 60B HTS REQUIRED FOR UNKNOWN SMELT/CAST CTRY

Both documents are available at: https://www.cbp.gov/trade/automated/catair