The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is amending the list of goods from China newly subject to 10 percent Section 301 tariffs to remove frozen salmon and make conforming changes to subheadings covering wood. Effective Sept. 24, USTR is removing from the list subheadings 0304.81.10 and 0304.81.50, which cover frozen salmon, in order “to account fully for the extensive public comments and testimony previously provided” in the Section 301 investigation.
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.
On the first day of tariff collection for the third phase of the U.S.-China trade war, another 5,745 products became subject to 10 percent higher levies, with the threat of an additional 15 percent levy on those products following in a little more than three months.
The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill became law Sept. 13 with the signature of the president, the White House announced on Sept. 13. The tariff rate reductions on nearly 1,700 items will take effect Oct. 13 -- 30 days after enactment. The reductions, which will last through the end of 2020, only affect the Most Favored Nation rate and not Section 301 tariffs. The International Trade Commission developed the list, and most of the items are intermediate goods, but some are consumer goods that are not produced in the U.S.
The Trump administration should pursue a “plurilateral agreement among the world’s largest economies” to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, commented IBM in docket USTR-2018-0026 in opposition to the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. IBM thinks that a global agreement with China’s “largest trade and investment partners” could help “establish broad new norms,” it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 27-31 in case they were missed.
The House could pass the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill in the first week or so following a return from recess after Labor Day "if they think that they can get it passed and get it through the president to sign," said Jon Kent, a lobbyist for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America with Kent & O'Connor. One potential issue could be inconsistency concerns within the administration over tariff cuts on many goods that come from China as other tariffs are being added under Section 301 and other trade remedies, Kent said.
David Mathison, founder of furniture leather company Leather Miracles, asked a panel of government officials to strike Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings 4107.11.50, leather upholstery, and 9401.90.50, leather for auto seats, from the Section 301 tariff list. He spoke as one of 62 witnesses testifying on the first of six days of scheduled hearings to determine which products will face additional tariffs. Mathison's career has been disrupted by China before. The rise of Chinese shoe manufacturing, and then Chinese furniture manufacturing, drove his previous company, Lackawanna Leather, out of business after about 100 years of operation.
Tech startups are among the many hundreds of innovators from various industries voicing opposition to a third proposed tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1808150002), comments in docket USTR-2016-0026 show. One such startup, Cao Gadgets, worries about the impact tariffs will have on its “family owned small business,” which develops wireless sensor tags for a variety of Internet of Things uses, commented owner Mike Cao. Four days of public hearings are to begin Aug. 20 on the proposed third tranche. Final comments in the docket are due Sept. 6.
The U.S. trade relationship with China "significantly impacts” Consumer Technology Association member companies, large and small, because they “rely on the global supply chain -- including China -- to conduct business,” said Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade. She asked to appear at Aug. 20-23 public hearings to oppose 10 percent Section 301 tariffs proposed in a July 10 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice. CTA members identified 302 tariff lines of Chinese imports in the notice, accounting for more than $109 billion in value, for which 10 percent duties “would be detrimental to their business,” Chandler said in her July 27 filing. CTA is still gathering “relevant data” on the tariffs’ possible impact on members, and the numbers she cited may need to be “updated” by the time written comments are due Aug. 17, she said.
The Consumer Technology Association wants the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to remove 54 tariff lines from the list of imports from China targeted for a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties, said Sage Chandler, vice president-international trade, in comments filed July 23 in docket USTR-2018-0018. Chandler also testified at the USTR’s public hearing on July 24. The 54 tariff lines were well more than double the 22 Harmonized Tariff Schedule product codes that Chandler said CTA members had identified nearly four weeks ago for exclusion from the new list of duties (see 1807100025). Tariffs on the proposed products “will harm the very industries they seek to protect, all while failing to influence China's behavior or help the administration's stated goal of eliminating China’s discriminatory trade practices,” Chandler said in her latest comments.