ITC Recommends Three-Year TRQ Safeguard on Residential Washers, Exemptions for Canada, Mexico
The International Trade Commission will recommend a tariff-rate quota on all imports of large residential washers as part of its Section 201 safeguard investigation, it said in Nov. 21 a press release. The ITC’s four sitting commissioners unanimously said President Donald Trump should implement a three-year tariff-rate quota, with large residential washers imported above a threshold of 1.2 million units subject to a 50 percent rate of duty in year one, decreasing to 45 percent in year two and 40 percent in year three.
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The commissioners differed on how in-quota merchandise should be handled. ITC Chairman Rhonda Schmidtlein and Commissioner Irving Williamson suggested in-quota washers initially be dutiable at 20 percent, falling to 18 and 15 percent in years two and three, respectively. Vice Chairman David Johanson and Commissioner Meredith Broadbent recommended no tariff at all on in-quota merchandise, according to their statements released alongside the ITC press release.
All four commissioners also recommended a TRQ on “covered parts” of large residential washers, agreeing to a threshold of 50,000 units, increasing to 70,000 and 90,000 in the second and third years of the TRQ, respectively. They also unanimously suggested a tariff rate on out-of-quota merchandise starting at 50 percent in the first year, then falling to 45 percent in the second year and 40 percent in the third year. Johanson and Broadbent recommended no tariff on in-quota covered parts, while Schmidtlein and Williamson did not specify an in-quota rate.
Three of the four commissioners -- Schmidtlein, Williamson and Johanson -- recommended an exemption for large residential washers from Canada and Mexico, as well as Australia, members of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), Colombia, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Panama, Peru, Singapore, and the beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. Mexico and South Korea are currently covered by antidumping and countervailing duty orders on large residential washers. Broadbent only suggested an exemption for CBERA countries.
The ITC found injury to U.S. large residential washer manufacturers in a determination announced in October (see 1710100037), clearing the way for Trump to impose tariffs or other import restrictions. Once the ITC issues its final report, due in early December, Trump will have about two months to adopt or reject the ITC’s recommendations, or opt to set other trade restrictions. Whirlpool filed the Section 201 petition at the end of May, requesting a three-year TRQ assessed based on historical import levels for each respective country during a given period, while allowing imports of a base number of large residential washers without safeguard duties.