The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative granted iRobot an exclusion to the List 3 Section 301 tariffs on the robotic vacuum cleaners it imports from China under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8508.11.00.00. iRobot applied for the exemption July 1 and based its argument partly on plans to shift production to Malaysia from China. It began producing entry-level vacuums in Malaysia in November, and said it will source additional models there later in 2020. The exclusion is retroactive to Sept. 24, 2018, when the List 3 tariffs took effect at 10%, and is valid through Aug. 7, 2020. The Trump administration hiked List 3 tariffs to 25% on March 2, 2019. iRobot’s was one of 107 exemptions granted for “specially prepared product descriptions” covering 157 “separate exclusion requests,” USTR said (see 2004230010). iRobot is “pleased that the USTR determined that our rationale for an exclusion was appropriate, particularly in light of the tangible steps we have taken to establish our manufacturing activities in Malaysia,” CEO Colin Angle said in an email. “As the largest American pure-play robotics company, with over 800 U.S.-based employees and roughly half of our revenue generated domestically, we believe that an exclusion not only further supports iRobot's ability to maintain its technological and category leadership but it also helps ensure that robotics is an industry in which the U.S. continues to lead the world.”
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on mattresses from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam (A-555-001, A-560-836, A-557-818, A-801-002, A-549-841, A-489-841, A-552-827), and countervailing duty investigation on mattresses from China (C-570-128).
Three U.S. manufacturers seek the imposition of new antidumping duties on prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Argentina, Egypt, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine, and new countervailing duties on PC strand from Turkey, they said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission April 15. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers.
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative plans to issue some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China (see 2004230003), it said in a notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020. New subheading 9903.88.45 will be used for these excluded products.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new group of product exclusions from the third group of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The new exclusions from the tariffs include "one 10-digit HTSUS subheading, which covers 20 separate exclusion requests, and 107 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 157 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the third set of tariffs took effect. The exclusions will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
The International Trade Commission recently issued two revisions to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, largely to implement changes that had been previously announced to exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on goods from China and changes to tariffs on goods from the European Union imposed as part of the large civil aircraft dispute. Both revisions were issued by the ITC in March.
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on non-refillable steel cylinders from China (A-570-126/C-570-127). The CV duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019. The AD duty investigation covers entries July 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019.
Although the hearing scheduled for input on a Kenya Free Trade deal was canceled, comments continue to come in for what the U.S. trade representative's priorities should be.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 13-19:
James Holbein retired as director of the International Trade Commission’s Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements (TATA) in early February, an ITC spokesperson said. In that role, he had been responsible for maintaining and publishing the Harmonized Tariff Schedule since 2014. Holbein is now listed as of counsel at Braumiller Law Group. Cathy DeFilippo, director of the ITC’s Office of Operations, is now acting director of TATA, the spokesperson said. The director of TATA reports to the director of Operations.