Senators Sign Letter Supporting Duty Drawback

On February 24, 2018, the Treasury Secretary was required to prescribe regulations concerning duty drawback under section 906 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA). Section 906 of TFTEA makes important changes to the drawback law by simplifying and streamlining the program’s procedures for determining products eligible for the program. The duty drawback program in an important export-promotion program and the continued delay in issuing and finalizing these regulations will have a negative economic impact on manufacturers and jobs in our states. We ask you to finalize the TFTEA regulations without delay.

Many industries rely heavily on accelerated payments for the refunds of federal duties, taxes, and deeds under drawback to competitively price their exports of U.S. goods. Existing duty drawback regulations have not been applied uniformly across all products, impacting competition in U.S. exports, including exports of wine, beer, distilled spirits and petroleum products. Section 906 of TFTEA was meant to correct this problem. Businesses competing in the export market may suffer economic harm if the statue and new regulations are proscribed in a manner that limits, rather than expands the use of drawback.

The scope the Department of Treasury’s authority to determined how duty drawback regulations are executed needs to be determined quickly and accurately. Constituents in our states have a vested interest in accelerated payments for federal duties, taxes and fees imposed on imports and refunded as drawback. The implementation of these regulations will have a large impact on successful competition in the export market. These constituents are requesting uninterrupted access to accelerated drawback payments while there is a delay in the final ruling, as well as a final rule that does not limit the use of drawback for any I.S. manufacturer under 19 U.S.C. S. 1313. Please note that existing duty drawback laws under section 113 do not limit the ability of any U.S. manufacturing sector to utilize drawback, including exports of wine, beer, distilled spirits and petroleum products.

Please consider the economic impact these regulations will have on producers of wine, beer, distilled spirits and some petroleum products as you deliver fair and just drawback regulations. It is important that regulations are finalized and executed fairly and within the bounds of Treasury’s authority under TFTEA, and that the final rule is executed in a timely manner.

We look forward to working with you on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)