CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Trade attorneys continue to wait and wonder what kind of tariff changes will come next year, with one observer using a tariff slide that said "Tariff Armageddon."
In less than three months, President Donald Trump will be back in the White House, after a campaign during which he floated 10% or 20% tariffs on all countries except China, which would be hit with an additional 60 percentage points on top of current tariffs.
If a reelected President Donald Trump uses the existing Section 301 tariffs program to hike tariffs on all Chinese goods by at least 60%, that's likely to survive a court challenge, said two law professors who spoke during a Washington International Trade Association webinar on the executive branch's ability to make deals and impose trade restrictions without congressional say-so.
The administration rebranded two pending rulemaking processes and revived one that was abandoned in 2021 to address the compliance risks of de minimis shipments as well as shrink the volume of direct-to-consumer imports.
Imports from China of electric vehicles, EV batteries, solar cells and wafers, face masks, needles and syringes, critical minerals and steel and aluminum will all be hiked Sept. 27, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Sept. 13, as part of a longer-term modification of Section 301 duties.
Tariffs on imports from China of electric vehicles, EV batteries, solar cells and wafers, face masks, needles and syringes, critical minerals and steel and aluminum will go up Sept. 27, with more Section 301 tariff hikes planned for Jan. 1, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, which advocates for protecting American manufacturing, said the new Senate Finance Committee bill to restrict de minimis moves "things in the right direction," even more than the bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee in the spring.
A number of prominent trade groups, along with Winnebago, the motor home and powerboat maker with 6,000 employees, questioned the wisdom of a tariff hike from 7.5% to 25% on lithium-ion batteries outside the electric vehicle sector (Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8507.60.0020).
Trade groups and major companies that make electric cars, light trucks and heavy trucks told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that domestic industry is not ready to take over from Chinese suppliers of graphite, artificial graphite and electric vehicle battery cells on the timelines the Section 301 tariff modifications propose.