The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued three new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the first three lists of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions from the first tranche include "310 specially prepared product descriptions" and cover 724 separate requests, according to the notice. The second tranche exclusions include 89 product descriptions and covers 400 requests, while the third tranche exclusions include 38 product descriptions that cover 46 exclusion requests, the agency 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.
Almost half of companies that responded to the U.S.-China Business Council's annual survey on the business climate in China said they have lost sales in China since the trade war began. The most common reason is because of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports to China, according to these 100 multinational firms based in the U.S. Another third said they lost sales because of U.S. tariffs.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Aug. 29 that it is seeking comments through Regulations.gov on the efficacy of increasing Section 301 tariffs from 25 percent to 30 percent in order to convince China to stop trade abuses. The office also invites businesses and trade groups to explain if the increase on any particular product would cause disproportionate harm to U.S. consumers or businesses. Comments are due by Sept. 20; the increase is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will publish a notice in the Federal Register Aug. 30 that says that List 4 products under the Section 301 action will face an additional 15 percent tariff, not 10 percent, as earlier announced. President Donald Trump had tweeted this change four days ago (see 1908230059). The change in the rate does not affect the dates the goods will face the tariff. One group of products, nearly 3,800 8-digit tariff lines, will be taxed starting Sept. 1; consumer electronics largely will wait until Dec. 15.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1914 on Aug. 13, containing 531 Automated Broker Interface records and 94 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes adjustments required by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's announcement of two new sets of exemptions from Section 301 tariffs on China (see 1907290023 and 1908080019). Modifications required by the verification of the 2019 HTS and to support Partner Government Agency message set functionality are included as well.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 5-9 in case they were missed.
The International Trade Commission in recent days posted Revision 11 to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. All changes relate to implementation of the first group of exclusions from tranche three of Section 301 tariffs on products from China (see 1908050010). That includes the creation of new tariff subheading 9903.88.13 for products filed under the new exclusions.
CBP added the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with the first group of excluded goods from the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Aug. 8, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1908050010) should report the regular Chapters 39, 54, 56, 73, 87 and 89 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.13, 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 9903.88.13 is submitted,” CBP said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 29 - Aug. 2 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is publishing its first list of product exclusions from the third tranche of $200 billion in Section 301 tariffs on China (see 1908050002). This list of exclusions includes 10 subsets of tariff numbers in chapters 39, 54, 56, 73, 87 and 89. The new exclusions take effect retroactively from Sept. 24, 2018, when the $200 billion in tariffs originally entered into force, and will remain for one year following publication of USTR’s notice. USTR is creating Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9903.88.13 for the new set of exclusions.