IRobot’s U.S. sales declined 7 percent in Q3 because growth “remained subdued as the direct and indirect impacts” of the 25 percent List 3 Section 301 tariffs “weighed heavily on consumers, retailers and suppliers,” CEO Colin Angle said on an Oct. 23 call. IRobot price hikes in late July resulted in “suboptimal sellthrough” in August and September, prompting the vendor to roll back pricing to “pre-tariff levels” earlier in October, he said.
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.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced procedures for requesting product exclusions to some of the fourth list of Section 301 tariffs on products from China. A subset of those tariffs took effect on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066), while the rest of the tariffs are scheduled to begin on Dec. 15. This process only applies to tariffs that began on Sept. 1, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 7-11 in case they were missed.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 30 - Oct. 4 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is publishing two new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China (see 1909300009). The product exclusions apply retroactively to when each tranche initially took effect. That was July 6, 2018, for the first tranche, and Aug. 23, 2018, for the second tranche.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued two new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the first two lists of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions from the first tranche include "92 specially prepared product descriptions" and cover 129 separate requests, according to the notice. The second tranche exclusions include 111 product descriptions and covers 382 requests, the agency said.
CBP will add the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with the seventh group of exclusions from the first tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Sept. 29, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1909180013) should report the regular Chapter 84, 85, 87, 88 or 90 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.14, for products subject to Section 301 duties on products from China but that have been granted an exclusion by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when HTS 9903.88.14 is submitted,” CBP said.
CBP will add the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with the second group of excluded goods from the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Sept 29, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1909180004) should report the regular Chapters 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 54, 55, 59, 73, 76, 83, 84, 85, 87 and 94 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.18, for products subject to Section 301 duties on products from China but that have been granted an exclusion by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when HTS 9903.88.18 is submitted,” CBP said.
The CBP Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise is overseeing a huge increase in the number of Post Summary Correction requests for retroactive application of Section 232 exclusions, agency officials recently told the American Institute for International Steel. "The Base Metals Center PSC workload has increased approximately 1500% from pre Section 232," AIIS said. As a result of that volume, "[w]hen exclusions are claimed retroactively by PSC, some time may be required to process," the trade group said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is publishing three new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China (see 1909180004). The product exclusions apply retroactively to when each tranche initially took effect. That was July 6, 2018, for the first tranche, Aug. 23, 2018, for the second tranche and Sept. 24, 2018, for the third tranche. The notice for the third tranche also includes "technical amendments" to lists three and four of the Section 301 tariffs that appear to end double counting of Section 301 tariffs on goods tariffed at a rate that comes from another subheading.