Paul Gluckman

It’s “difficult to read the tea leaves,” or “glean” any lessons, from why the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative removed certain tariff lines from the initial list of Section 301 tariffs, said David Cohen, a lawyer with Sandler Travis, during Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) webinar July 18. The USTR on June 15 announced it deleted 40 percent of the product lines from its first list of proposed Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1806150003). The rationale behind those changes isn't apparent, he said.

The Consumer Technology Association, the National Retail Federation and the Semiconductor Industry Association are among groups and companies requesting to appear at a July 24 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hearing about the Section 301 tariffs on a second list of 284 lines of Chinese-sourced products proposed for the higher duties (see 1806210029). The Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones are also among the commenters in docket USTR-2018-0018. Written comments are due July 23, and post-hearing rebuttal comments, July 31.

SHANGHAI -- The Trump administration's threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 million worth of Chinese imports and China's possible retaliatory actions were top of mind for Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro during his opening remarks June 13 at the electronics expo CES Asia. “The challenge with tariffs is that nobody wins, and these threats and the discussion about it causes global economic uncertainty,” Shapiro said.

Eight House Republicans, including seven from the Texas delegation, went to bat for constituent tech companies trying to fend off Trade Act Section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on imports from China, with the final tariffs list due out this week (see 1805290010). The eighth GOP member said he wants to protect one company, Cree, from paying higher duties on the LED wafers that it makes in North Carolina, ships to China, and re-imports to the U.S. as finished, packaged chips.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the National Retail Federation and 50 other trade groups in various industries want the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to “immediately make public” the details of the process it will use to add more Chinese-sourced products to the proposed 25 percent tariffs list, they said in comments dated May 22. “We strongly believe there needs to be additional public input for any products that USTR is considering adding to the proposed list,” said the comments, which also were signed by the Consumer Technology Association, the Toy Association and the Home Furnishings Association.

The Trump administration’s imposition of 25 percent tariffs on TVs sourced from China (see 1804040019) would cause shipments of those sets to decline 2.1 percent and raise consumer pricing 23 percent, according to a new report released by industry groups. The survey report, released April 17, was prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide for the Consumer Technology Association and the National Retail Federation, both of which vehemently oppose the tariffs. The Section 301 tariffs, which aren't yet in effect, would likely have a major impact on TVs from China (see 1804090008).

TVs imported from China could bear an especially heavy burden under the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s list of products targeted for 25 percent tariffs under the Trump administration's Section 301 investigation (see 1804040019). “This is a big impact on TV,” Bob O’Brien, president of Display Supply Chain Consultants, said in an interview. All products classified in Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8528.72.64 would be prone to tariffs, “which is basically all TVs” imported from China, he said. He estimates 18.8 million TVs with a value of $3.9 billion were imported from China in 2017 under that classification. “This would have a huge impact on the TV supply chain.”

​U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer filed a request for consultations at the World Trade Organization to “address China’s discriminatory technology licensing requirements,” his office said in a March 23 news release. President Donald Trump’s memorandum proposing Section 301 tariffs on about $60 billion worth of Chinese goods imported to the U.S. directed Lighthizer to address “China’s discriminatory technology licensing practices” through a WTO dispute proceeding (see 1803220034), of which the consultations request was the first step, Lighthizer's office said.

Almost all the 21 “selected industry groups” interviewed by the Government Accountability Office “said that shippers in their respective industries using major West Coast ports were affected by recent port disruptions,” such as the labor impasse that virtually shut down 29 West Coast ports in 2014 and 2015 (see 1502230002), an Oct. 31 GAO report said (here). Higher costs, lower revenue and shipment delays were the “main types of short- and long-term financial and business impacts” the industry groups said their members experienced from the 2014 and 2015 port disruption, GAO said. Almost all cited “some form of increased costs, and several industry groups experienced multiple types of increased costs,” the report said. “Some of the impacts were short-term -- such as increased costs or shipment delays -- while other impacts were of longer-term duration, such as the loss of sales, customers, or market share.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood in Newark, New Jersey, called a hearing Sept. 9 to weigh a motion from Hanjin Shipping’s foreign representative seeking Chapter 15 protection from U.S. creditors while Hanjin’s bankruptcy case is being heard in South Korean courts. Sherwood granted the company temporary Chapter 15 protection in an “interim” order Sept. 6. On the table for the judge to consider was a “proposed cargo protocol” Hanjin's representative suggested Thursday in an apparent bid to win the judge’s backing of its Chapter 15 petition. The protocol would free companies such as Samsung to sign contracts with third parties for the removal and dispensation of cargo that has been aboard ships in Hanjin’s control since the shipping company went into Korean receivership nearly two weeks ago (see 1608310038).