Manufacturers in foreign-trade zones are being treated worse than other U.S. manufacturers when their products are on Section 301 lists, said National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones President Erik Autor. He said he's attempting to educate the U.S. trade representative on how zones work in an effort to resolve the problem. Autor said that these products are "being erroneously treated as imports from China" if the highest-valued component is from China. He said this mistake is happening because Census is trying, however imperfectly, to measure the amount of imports by country. Because the imports did not go through customs when they entered the U.S., the Census bureau asks about the finished products leaving FTZs, and assigns a country of origin to it by determining what country was responsible for the greatest proportion of its imported components.
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.
A group of 80 trade associations has asked for exclusions to Section 301 Chinese tariffs to be liberally granted, including that they be granted automatically to all importers who have a "binding 'signed purchase order' to procure products from a supplier in China" if that order was signed before July 6.
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.
Special tariff provisions for U.S. goods returned after assembly, repair, alterations and processing will soon become subject to Section 301 tariffs on China, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a notice published Aug. 16. Products on the tariff list properly claimed under Chapter 98 provisions have up to now been fully exempt from the 25 percent duty, but beginning 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 23, subheadings 9802.00.40, 9802.00.50, 9802.00.60 and 9802.00.80 will no longer be eligible for the carve-out if classified under a Chapter 1-97 tariff provision otherwise covered by the tariffs.
Hundreds of companies -- the vast majority in opposition to new duties on goods from China -- asked to testify during four days of hearings beginning Aug. 20 on the proposed third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on an estimated $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. Requests were due Aug. 13 in docket USTR-2018-0026 under the deadline U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer extended from July 27 when he announced Aug. 1 he will “consider,” at President Donald Trump’s direction, raising the third tranche of proposed duties to 25 percent from 10 percent. Lighthizer in an Aug. 7 notice said he reserves the option to “extend the length of the hearing depending on the number of additional interested persons who request to appear.”
ATLANTA -- CBP has assessed about $2.7 billion in duties under the recent major trade remedies started during the Trump administration, said John Leonard, executive director-trade policy and programs, during an Aug. 14 meeting with reporters at the CBP 2018 Trade Symposium. That includes $477 million in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China so far, he said. The first tranche of Section 301 tariffs took effect on July 6 (see 1807050033) and more are scheduled to take effect on Aug. 23 (see 1808070046). CBP also has assessed just over $2 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum and $263 million under the Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines and solar cells (see 1801230052). Leonard also noted that the Section 201 tariff-rate quota for washer parts was recently reached. According to the most recent quota status report, the washer parts TRQ was filled as of July 23.
The proposed third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports targets equipment “critical for the build-out” of 5G mobile phone technology, the Internet of Things and “big data,” according to K.C. Swanson, Telecommunications Industry Association director-global policy, in prehearing testimony posted in docket USTR-2018-0026. Though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative hasn’t released a schedule of witnesses to testify at four days of public hearings on the tariffs beginning Aug. 20, Swanson is scheduled to testify Aug. 21, she said. Requests to testify were due Aug. 13 under the deadline USTR Robert Lighthizer extended from July 27 when he announced Aug. 1 he will “consider,” under President Donald Trump’s direction, raising the third tranche of proposed duties to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010070).
Imports at the major U.S. retail container ports set record highs in June and July and appear poised to set a third in August, the National Retail Federation said in an Aug. 9 news release. It’s all the result of retail sales rising and retailers “rushing to bring merchandise into the country” ahead of the proposed Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of products from China, NRF said. “Tariffs on most consumer products have yet to take effect but retailers appear to be getting prepared before that can happen,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “We’re seeing new record levels every month this summer. Much of that is to meet consumer demand as tax reform and a thriving economy drive retail sales, but part of it seems to be concern over what’s to come. The good news for consumers is that avoiding tariffs holds off price increases that will inevitably come if the reckless and misguided trade war is allowed to continue.” U.S. ports handled 1.85 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in June, a 7.8 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, NRF said, citing its own Global Port Tracker report. It estimates ports handled 1.88 million containers in July, a 4.4 percent increase year-over-year, and forecasts August container imports will be up 4.4 percent to 1.91 million, it said. “The volatility and non-fact-based decisions coming from Washington have created uncertainty" in the retail sector, said Hackett Associates, the contractor that compiled the port-tracking statistics for NRF.
A recent Agriculture Department report lists the specific food and agriculture tariff lines included in planned new Chinese tariffs (see 1808030013). "The supplementary tariffs are primarily on products which had not been previously impacted by the [Sections] 232 and 301 initial retaliatory duties, with the exception of eight [Harmonized System] codes," the USDA said in its Global Agricultural Information Network report. The new tariffs would apply in addition to the previously imposed retaliatory tariffs, it said. The new tariffs were announced in response to proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods under Section 301 (see 1808010070).