The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released an updated list of goods from the European Union to be subject to Section 301 tariffs as part of the dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization over Airbus subsidies. The changes will take effect on Sept. 1, it said.

Goods produced in Hong Kong will need to be marked as a product of China starting Sept. 25, CBP said in a notice. The marking changes are the result of the July 14 Executive Order that ended Hong Kong's special trade status.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "one existing ten-digit HTSUS subheading and 9 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 25 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will be in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.

Most exclusions from list three Section 301 China tariffs are now set to expire Aug. 7, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to include them in a notice of extensions released the day before their slated expiration. In the notice, USTR granted extensions until Dec. 31 to only 266 of the nearly 1,000 list three exclusions published to date. That leaves over 700 exclusions to expire on schedule.

President Donald Trump on Aug. 6 said he signed a proclamation earlier in the day that will be reimposing 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum. "Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual," he said. "The aluminum industry was being decimated by Canada." He said Canada has been flooding the U.S. with imports, and the U.S. Trade Representative told him that the return of the 10% tariff was "absolutely necessary" to preserve the U.S. aluminum industry. He was speaking at a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio.

A recent executive order ending Hong Kong's special trade status won't result in additional tariffs on goods from Hong Kong, a senior administration official said in a July 23 email. "The July 14, 2020, Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization does not provide for new U.S. tariffs on goods from Hong Kong," the official said. "The Administration will continue to evaluate and adjust our policies as conditions warrant."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "11 existing ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 53 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 242 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will be in effect until Sept. 1.

President Donald Trump's 2018 proclamation increasing the Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey violated "the animating statute and constitutional guarantees," a three-judge Court of International Trade panel said in a July 14 decision. The judges found that the proclamation fell outside the required time limits for making changes and Trump "acted without a proper report and recommendation by the [Commerce] Secretary on the national security threat posed by imports of steel products from Turkey."

French champagne and cheeses will be spared if the Trump administration retaliates for a promised Digital Services Tax in France, but makeup and handbags will be hit with a 25 percent tariff, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced July 10. U.S. buyers imported $1.3 billion worth of these goods in 2019, so the tariffs would be about $325 million if similar amounts were imported in 2021. The USTR said the DST is estimated to collect about $450 million from U.S. companies for the 2020 tax year.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another set of product exclusions from the fourth group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "61 specially prepared product descriptions, which together respond to 86 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, the date the fourth set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020.