A bill authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on countries tied to Russian oil purchases or sanctions evasion has been signed into law, Flexport reported in its Global Logistics Update.
The president signed H.R. 5334 on Sept. 18, after the measure cleared the House the previous week. With the legislative process complete, the open question shifts to whether and when the administration actually designates specific countries. Importers with exposure to the countries flagged in earlier coverage should keep watching for that decision, Flexport said.
Separately, a Federal Register notice makes several technical changes to pharmaceutical tariffs, effective Sept. 29. A new exclusion code now covers pharmaceutical products intended solely for clinical trials. The notice also clarifies some previously published exclusion codes and swaps out HTS codes that expired in July for their replacements under that month's 484(f) Committee update.
With new Section 232 tariffs on polysilicon set to take effect Dec. 4, Commerce is watching for importers trying to get ahead of the duties by stockpiling product now, including through newly created importers of record (IOR). The agency is telling customs brokers to stay alert for this kind of activity.
A Federal Register notice sets strict weekly volume quotas for solar cells, solar modules, polysilicon ingots and wafers, and polysilicon. Once a new IOR's weekly volume crosses that cap, Commerce approval is required to keep importing. Without it, that importer loses the ability to bring in any more of these products before the Dec. 4 tariffs kick in. Anyone bringing in these products under a newly registered IOR should confirm they are tracking against the weekly caps before they file, since going over could cut off further entries entirely.
In a Section 301 forced-labor tariff case, plaintiffs want the whole USTR investigation tossed, arguing the probe into 60 economies' enforcement record never held up. They say that when the government defended it in court, it attacked "strawmen" rather than engaging with the plaintiffs' actual arguments. The case adds to a growing pile of legal challenges to the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs working through the courts.
CBP published guidance on recent technical corrections to China Section 301 exclusions, and separately announced a pilot program requiring electronic export manifest data for truck cargo. The truck pilot follows a similar electronic manifest requirement CBP finalized for rail cargo a few weeks ago, continuing the shift toward electronic filing across transport modes.
On the ocean side, carriers are deploying capacity in full through the end of September, with offered capacity into the U.S. East Coast 6-7% higher in September than in August. Blank sailings are set to build from the week of October 5, reaching roughly 18% of scheduled capacity in the week of October 12, driven by Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept. 25-27 running into Golden Week on Oct. 1-7. U.S. container ports are forecast to handle 2.31 million TEU in September, up 9.6% year over year, which would make it the busiest import month of 2026.
Shanghai-to-Los Angeles rates rose 5% week over week, and Shanghai-to-New York rates rose 7%. Flexport recommends shippers place pre-holiday bookings now, add buffer to cargo-ready dates out of China, and plan for firm rates into the first half of October.