Trade in Real Life: Sorry Charlie (and Senator Warner) for Terrible Tuna Tariffs

Gabriella Beaumont-SmithDuring the pandemic, Senator Mark Warner (D ‑VA) released a video showcasing his tuna melt recipe —complete with a surprising amount of mayonnaise and heated in a microwave (no judgement). The “unhinged” recipe video went viral and three years later,Washingtonian sat down with Senator Warner to have him taste ‐​test seven tuna melt sandwiches from DC and Virginia restaurants.Senator Warner ’s tuna‐​melt obsession reminded me of a tariff reclassificationcase I  read about last year. Starkist Co. is well‐​known for its single‐​serve pouches of tuna and argued to the Federal Circuit that its tuna‐​in‐​mayo imports should qualify for a 10 percent tariff over the 35 percent tariff that Customs and Borer Protection assessed on the imports. Th e lower tariff rate applied to “minced tuna products,” and the higher tariff to unminced tuna packed in oil. However, after scrutinizing the “tuna‐​chopping process,” a three‐​judge panel decided that Starkist’s tuna products were too chunky to be considered minced. Starkist also argued that the tuna could not be considered as “packed in oil,” and should at least qualify for the 6 to 12.5 percent tariff applied to tuna imports not packed in oil. The tuna products contain oil but Starkist insisted that to be considered “packed in oil,” the tuna needed to be placed in oil while it is packed (seems logical) but the judges disagreed,stating that the “stat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs