26-0805: Wednesday's "Export/Import Daily Bugle"

1. President Imposes Restrictions on Imports of Quartz Surface Products

(Source: 91 FR 50645, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

* AGENCY: Executive Office of the President

* ACTION: Proclamation 11051 of July 31, 2026: "To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition from Imports of Quartz Surface Products"

* SUMMARY: The ITC reached an affirmative determination under section 202(b) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2252(b)) that QSP is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article. . . .
     I determine that it is appropriate and feasible to take action of a type described in section 203(a)(3) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)(3)) (safeguard measure) with regard to QSP described in the ITC's Notice of Institution, 90 FR 55165 (Dec. 1, 2025), listed in subdivision (a) of Note 41 in the Annex to this proclamation, and classifiable in the HTSUS in subheadings 6810.99.0020, 6810.99.0040, and 7020.00.6000.
     Specifically, I determine that it is appropriate and feasible to impose a safeguard measure in the form of a tariff-rate quota on imports of QSP as described in paragraph 8 of this proclamation, for a period of 4 years, with annual increases in the within-quota quantities and reductions in the rates of duty applicable to goods entered within and in excess of those quantities in the second, third, and fourth years, as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.
     The safeguard measure applies to imports of all countries, except as provided in paragraphs 11 through 14 of this proclamation. . . .

2. President Continues National Emergency Regarding Sensitive Technologies Advanced by Countries of Concern

(Source: 91 FR 50659, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

* AGENCY: Executive Office of the President

* ACTION: Notice: "Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Advancement by Countries of Concern in Sensitive Technologies and Products Critical for the Military, Intelligence, Surveillance, or Cyber-Enabled Capabilities of Such Countries"

* SUMMARY: The national emergency declared in Executive Order 14105 of August 9, 2023, must continue in effect beyond August 9, 2026. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14105 with respect to the threat posed by the advancement by countries of concern in sensitive technologies and products critical for the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities of such countries.

3. Future Federal Register

(Source: Future Federal Register)

4. CBP Cargo Systems Messages

(Source: DHS/CBP/CSMS)

5. CBP Events in August 2026

(Source: OTR Webinars)

6. Commerce/BIS (Nothing new.)

(Source: Commerce/BIS)

7. DoD/DCSA: "Industry Transition to DISS for Initiate and Review (I/R) Functionality"

(Source: DCSA, 4 Aug 2026)

     The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has released two new training videos on STEPP to prepare defense industry partners for the upcoming transition to the Defense Information Systems for Security (DISS) for Initiate and Review (I/R) functions.
     To ensure industry partners have the necessary training and support during this operational shift, these newly recorded resources are designed to fully familiarize your team with the new DISS I/R functionalities.
     For functions specific to Industry, these videos can be found here:

Reminder of Upcoming Important Dates:

8. State/DDTC (Nothing new.)

(Source: State/DDTC)

9. Treasury/OFAC: Counter Terrorism Designations Removals and Update

(Source: Treasury/OFAC, 5 Aug 2026)

     The following deletions and changes were made to OFAC's SDN List: [See list here.]

10. White House Executive Actions: (No items of interest.)

(Source: The White House)

11. Breaking Defense: "How ITAR Concerns are Affecting US Defense Sales Abroad"

(Source: Breaking Defense News, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

     US arms-sale regulations are causing some European firms to reassess their approach toward military modernization. Some European firms are changing their approach toward US weapons sales due to restrictions from American International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR.
     In this episode of The Pentagon Buzz, Pentagon reporter Ashley Roque explains what ITAR means and how some in Europe are moving away from buying weapons with US-controlled parts. . . .
     [Full article]

12. Expeditors News: "DHS Adds 43 Companies to UFLPA Entity List"

(Source: Expeditors News, 4 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

     In a press release published on July 31, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of 43 companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List.
     This is the largest single expansion of the UFLPA Entity List since its inception and brings the total number of entities on the list to 187. These newly added companies produce aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, tomatoes, and downstream products.
     Goods from these companies will be prohibited from entering the United States as of August 3, 2026, unless importers can demonstrate that the merchandise was not produced with forced labor. The press release from DHS is HERE.

13. Legis1: "ATF Proposes Easing Rules for Firearms Component Imports"

(Source: Legis1 News, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

     A recent Congressional Research Service report published August 4 details how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is reshaping firearms import policy through two significant regulatory changes. The shifts would streamline how temporary imports become permanent, and fundamentally alter how the agency treats components with dual military and civilian applications.
     The ATF's proposed rules create a pathway that could expand the domestic firearms market while reducing regulatory friction for importers. These changes would affect everything from how foreign firearms enter the country to what components can legally be assembled into weapons once they arrive. The tension is stark: one rule cuts costs for businesses, the other removes post-import oversight mechanisms that currently constrain what can be done with imported parts. . . . [Full article]

14. Shapiro: "Commerce May Expand Section 232 to Additional Products"

(Source: Shap Flash, 5 Aug 2026)

     The U.S. Department of Commerce is considering expanding Section 232 duties to 14 additional categories of products containing aluminum, steel, or copper.
     Affected products may include musical instruments, fire extinguishers, certain electrical cables, welding-machine, electric cables, and heat-exchanger parts, floor safes, trailers, mobile lifting equipment, aluminum powder, brass instruments, hydraulic-motor parts, and certain filled steel containers.
     The exact HTSUS codes affected can be found in the federal register notice.
     Most listed products could face a proposed 25% tariff. These changes are proposals and are not yet final. The Department of Commerce is accepting public comments through Regulations.gov under docket BIS-2026-0331.

15. Space News: "Telesat Lands $1.63 Billion Canadian Defense Contract"

(Source: Space News Archives, 4 Aug 2026) [Excerpts of subscription publication]

     Telesat has signed the largest contract in its history, a roughly $1.63 billion agreement to provide the Canadian military with secure communications across the Arctic and finance a substantial expansion of its Lightspeed satellite network.
     The agreement with Canada's Defence Investment Agency covers military Ka-band services beginning in 2028. It includes two five-year options valued at about $142 million each, which would bring the contract's total value to approximately $1.92 billion and extend the service period to 15 years.
     The contract gives Telesat an anchor defense customer before Lightspeed begins service and supplies funding to increase the number of fully financed satellites in the low Earth orbit constellation from 156 to 225. Telesat said the network remains on schedule to begin global service in the first quarter of 2028.
     Telesat is a Canadian satellite operator with an established fleet in geostationary orbit. Lightspeed, its planned low Earth orbit network, is aimed primarily at government, defense and enterprise customers rather than the consumer broadband market served by larger constellations such as SpaceX's Starlink. . . . [Full article]

16. Valley News: "China Hits US with Series of Economic Measures, Including Export Controls on Drones"

(Source: Valley News, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpt]

     BANGKOK (AP) — China announced a series of economic measures Wednesday against the United States, including controls on exports of drones to the U.S. and a ban on dealings with six American entities, in response to recent restrictions imposed by Washington.
     Tensions are simmering between the world's two biggest economies ahead of an expected visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, despite signs of warming ties during his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing in May.
     The Commerce Ministry said the sanctions are in response to recent moves from the U.S., including a ban by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on imports of Chinese drones, and the Department of Homeland Security's decision to add 43 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list to prevent imports of goods made with forced labor. . . . [Full article]

17. Baker/McKenzie: "UK: HMRC Publishes Further Legislation and Guidance on UK CBAM ahead of 1 January 2027 implementation"

(Source: Baker/McKenzie Blog, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

* Principal Author: Sylvain Guelton (UK); Baker Mckenzie

     Ahead of the 1 January 2027 entry into force of the UK's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism ("CBAM") regime, on 13 July 2026, HM Revenue & Customs ("HMRC") laid secondary legislation before Parliament and published a package of supporting guidance (please see here).
     CBAM forms part of the UK government's wider strategy to tackle carbon leakage and will impose a carbon price on emissions that are attributable to the production of certain types of goods ("embodied emissions"). CBAM aims to level the playing field and ensure that imported goods are subject to a carbon price that is comparable to that incurred by manufacturers based in the UK.
     The UK's CBAM regime will be broadly consistent with the EU regime (with the exception of treatment of electricity); in scope products will be aluminium goods, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, and iron and steel products and the person liable to CBAM will be the importer of the CBAM good(s) (or the person on whose behalf the CBAM goods are imported). [Full article]

18. Steptoe: "Preparing for the Global Proliferation of Forced Labor Import Bans"

(Source: Steptoe News, 5 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

* Principal Author: Yousuf Aftab, Steptoe LLP

     Forced labor trade enforcement is no longer a two-jurisdiction story. For nearly a century, the United States stood essentially alone in prohibiting the import of goods made with forced labor; the European Union will join in December 2027.
     In a companion analysis, we examined the guidance documents that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the European Commission issued within weeks of each other this summer—and the distinct visions of compliance they reflect: documentary proof at the border versus governance-based human rights due diligence.
     This piece addresses the next phase, which arrived last week. On July 24, 2026, the USTR's final action in its Section 301 forced labor investigations took effect, imposing additional duties of 10% or 12.5% on 60 economies—more than 80 countries, accounting for over 99% of US imports—for failing to adopt or effectively enforce forced labor import bans of their own.
     Forced labor import prohibitions are now proliferating across the trading system at remarkable speed. Below, we survey the new laws, propose a working typology of their legislative approaches, and identify the practical steps companies should be taking now to prepare for a world of many enforcers. . . . [Full article]

19. Volkov: "Cartel Terrorism Designations Are Quietly Rewriting Corporate Risk in Latin America"

(Source: Volkov Law, 4 Aug 2026) [Excerpts]

* Principal Author: Michael Volkov, Volkov Law Group LLC

     A significant shift in U.S. enforcement policy is underway, and most companies operating in Mexico, Brazil, and elsewhere in Latin America have not yet fully absorbed what it means for them. Over the past year and a half, the government has moved major cartels and organized criminal networks onto the same legal footing as international terrorist organizations.
     That reclassification is not a symbolic gesture. It opens an entirely new statutory pathway for corporate liability, one that does not require a company to know it was dealing with a cartel at all.

From Sanctions Issue to White-Collar Enforcement Priority

For years, cartel-related risk sat primarily inside the sanctions compliance function. Screen the counterparty against the OFAC list, avoid the obviously designated entities, and move on.
     That framing is now outdated. Executive Order 14157 directs the government to treat cartels and related criminal organizations as national security threats and authorizes their designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
     Once a cartel carries that designation, a separate and much broader body of law comes into play: the material support statutes under the Anti-Terrorism Act. . . . [Full article]

20. List of Export/Import Job Openings

(Source: Editor)

22. Bartlett's Unfamiliar Quotations

(Source: Brainy Quotes)

* Bruce Barton (Bruce Fairchild Barton; 5 Aug 1886 – 5 Jul 1967; was an American author, advertising executive, and politician. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1937 to 1940 as a Republican from New York.)

- "When you're through changing, you're through."

- "It would do the world good if every man would compel himself occasionally to be absolutely alone. Most of the world's progress has come out of such loneliness."

* Peter Alexander McWilliams (5 Aug 1949 – 14 Jun 2000; was an American self-help and computer operations author. He wrote nearly 40 books, including An Alphabetical Guide to the Transcendental Meditation Program, and Surviving the Loss of a Love.)

- "To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all."

- "Mistakes, obviously, show us what needs improving. Without mistakes, how would we know what we had to work on?"

- "The simple solution for disappointment depression: Get up and get moving. Physically move. Do! Act! Get going!"

* Wendell Berry (Wendell Erdman Berry; born 5 Aug 1934, age 92; is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of The Gift of Good Land and The Unsettling of America.)

- "Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you."

23. Today in History (Source: History Channel)

1861: Abraham Lincoln imposes first federal income tax. On August 5, 1861, President Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800 ($30,400 today). Congress repealed Lincoln's tax law in 1871, but in 1909 passed the 16th Amendment, which set in place the federal income-tax system used today.

1964: The first U.S. aviator shot down over North Vietnam was LTJG Everett Alvarez Jr., U.S. Navy. He was shot down and captured on 5 August 1964 while flying an A-4 Skyhawk from the aircraft carrier USS Constellation during Operation Pierce Arrow, the U.S. retaliatory strikes following the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Alvarez became the first U.S. prisoner of war held in North Vietnam and remained captive for 3,113 days (more than 8½ years) until his release on 12 February 1973.

24. Do You Need to Update Your Daily Bugle Profile?

(Source: Editor)

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25. Are Your Copies of Export/Import Regulations Current?

(Source: Editor)

The official versions of the following regulations are published annually in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) but are updated as amended in the Federal Register. The latest amendments are listed below.