In more than four hours of questioning during a hearing March 24 before the House Ways and Means Committee, no member of Congress advocated for lessening tariffs on Chinese goods under Section 301, or for reopening exclusions applications.
Section 301 tariff exclusions
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has established an exclusion process for Section 301 tariffs on China. In a series of rounds since the tariffs took effect, importers have been able to request exclusions from the tariffs, as well as extensions to existing exclusions. Many exclusions have been allowed to expire, as well. Section 301 exclusions are applicable to all importers of a given good, which may be defined as an entire tariff schedule subheading or a subset of a subheading outlined in a written description.
While the Section 232 tariffs increased domestic steel production by 5% and increased smelter utilization by about 15%, there was $3.4 billion less manufacturing across the most impacted metal consuming industries -- industrial machinery, cutlery and handtool factories; motor vehicle suspension and steering components; agricultural/mining/construction manufacturing, and metal fabricators, according to an International Trade Commission report.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 6-12:
The new Republican majority in the House Ways and Means Committee said it plans to do oversight across a multitude of trade policies advanced by the administration, including enforcement of trade agreements and trade negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade and the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership. For existing FTAs, the committee said it wishes to identify provisions that should be updated to improve the agreements' benefits for the U.S.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 6-12:
The head of the Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee said that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program never should have lapsed for two years, and he believes there's interest among House Democrats and Republicans "to get this done in a direct fashion that is timely and useful."
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While CBP rulings on country of origin show there are ways to keep China in the supply chain and still avoid Section 301 tariffs, Thompson Hine attorneys, during a webinar on what to expect in trade in 2023, said that if your product is auto parts, electric vehicle battery components, chemicals, pharmaceuticals or critical minerals, your chance of avoiding tariffs or other regulatory restrictions is not great.
A lawyer, a lobbyist and a think tank scholar all agreed -- the Section 301 tariff review is unlikely to result in significant changes to the punitive tariffs on most Chinese goods.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., said that the committee will definitely want to look into how the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is being enforced, and he expects there to be joint committee hearings on the topic.