Caspian Weekly Digest - November 3, 2026

Weekly Digest

New Steel Rates and a Longer Forced Labor List

Question of the Week

Caspian is planning live bootcamps for 2027. Which one would you sign up for?

Pick the one that would help your team most!

• Duty drawback, and how to file it yourself
• Bringing trade compliance in-house
• Customs broker exam prep
• FTZ operations
• Other (tell us below)

Ep. 2: Monthly Trade Policy Webinar

Getting Money Back: Duty Recovery in the U.S., Canada and the EU

Wednesday, November 18 at 1:00 pm ET

Claim Your Seat

0.5 CE Hours

The Bottom Line

Last week we walked through the Canada list changes that kicked in October 30. Since then, robotics and industrial machinery dodged a Section 232 tariff, at least until talks with trading partners play out. If you buy coated steel from Mexico, Commerce moved your dumping rate after a court case, and DHS put three Chinese genomics companies on the UFLPA list.

Antidumping

Mexican Coated Steel Gets New Dumping Rates

Galvasid S.A. de C.V. took its Mexican steel case to the Court of International Trade and got Commerce to drop a penalty on its U.S. prices. The penalty was for not listing freight and insurance separately. The amended order applies from October 29.

Steel from Galvasid now carries a 14.54% rate. Steel from every other Mexican producer or exporter carries 14.29%.

Commerce still has to send CBP new deposit instructions. We haven't seen them yet. When they do show up, make sure your broker switches to the new rate.

Why It Matters

Unless your mill is Galvasid, 14.29% is your number.

Source: Federal Register

Forced Labor

Three Genomics Companies Join the UFLPA List

BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech went on the UFLPA Entity List October 29. You may know MGI from its gene sequencers and reagents.

DHS's reason: genetic testing work with the Xinjiang government. That puts the list at 190 names.

Two of the three also made a second list for testing samples from Xinjiang. Got sequencers or reagents in your lab? Check where they came from.

Why It Matters

Their goods, and goods with their parts inside, get stopped at the border unless you can prove no forced labor went into them.

Sources: Federal Register, DHS entity list

Section 232

No Robotics Tariff for Now

Robots and factory machinery from abroad threaten national security, per Commerce. Its report says we use more of this stuff than we make, and U.S. plants can't cover the difference. The President agreed October 28 but set no tariff.

So for now it's talks. USTR and Commerce negotiate with trading partners and report back within 180 days, so around April 26. If that goes nowhere, tariffs, quotas, fees, even a program to pay for new U.S. plants are all still possible.

Why It Matters

Same as wind turbines October 22. No new duty yet.

Sources: Federal Register, White House

Broker permits. CBP set the 2027 customs broker permit fee at $190.88 per permit, due by January 29, 2027. A permit whose fee goes unpaid is revoked automatically. (Federal Register)

Shopping carts. The ITC opened antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on shopping carts and parts from China. Its preliminary vote is due by December 14. (Federal Register)

Orders that stay. The ITC voted to keep the duty orders on mattresses from Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Orders on chassis and diamond sawblades from China stay too. (Federal Register: mattresses, chassis, sawblades)

Dates That Matter

• Oct 29: BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech added to the UFLPA Entity List
• Oct 29: New dumping rates on Mexican corrosion-resistant steel apply
• Nov 9: Last day of the one-year hold on China ship fees; USTR has proposed extending it to Jan 9, 2027
• Nov 30: Comments due to Commerce on softwood lumber subsidies
• Dec 14: ITC preliminary vote on shopping carts from China
• Jan 29, 2027: 2027 customs broker permit fee due

What To Do Now

Check Your Lab Suppliers Against the UFLPA List
Search the live list for BGI and MGI, and pull any sequencing instruments, reagents or kits in your open purchase orders that trace back to them.

Ask Your Broker Which Mexican Steel Rate They're Using
Deposits on corrosion-resistant steel from Mexico should move to 14.29%, or 14.54% for Galvasid, once CBP's instructions land.

Reach Out to Caspian to Understand Your Impact

What's New at Caspian

Check Your Drawback Privileges
If we already have your ACE access, head to Claims and hit See privileges up in the right corner. That pulls up what CBP has on file for your drawback privileges, plus the history. Haven't filed for drawback before? Here's how it works. Our team got a little too excited looking at the timelines on this one.

A Roadmap for Your Claim Review
We tried this out with a customer last week. When we're working a claim review together, the whole plan now lives in Caspian, broken into phases with somebody's name on each task. So if you're wondering who we're waiting on, you can just look.

Ask Now Shows Its Sources
Ask now cites its sources. Click any citation and the regulation pops open next to the chat. Try asking it what records you need for a drawback claim and see what comes back.

New to Caspian? Check out our platform page to see how audits, drawback, and refunds work together.

Try Ask in Caspian