Five products identified by the Biden administration as deserving 100% Section 301 tariffs for strategic reasons -- electric vans, buses, low-speed golf-cart like EVs, electric cars, and plug-in hybrids -- will see higher rates on Aug. 1.
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Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas, who led the committee when the major tax cuts were written and passed during the Trump administration, is joining Akin's lobbying practice. Brian Pomper, former chief international trade counsel when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., led the committee, now is co-lead of the lobbying practice. He said: "With the novel USMCA review process starting in earnest next year and the need to navigate difficult trade issues like the Section 301 tariffs on China, Brady’s distinguished career at the forefront of shaping trade policy will bring unparalleled perspective and insight to our clients at a critical time.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
A Federal Register notice that will be made public this week will announce decisions on which of the current Section 301 tariff exclusions can continue, according to Brian Janovitz, chief counsel for China trade enforcement in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Many importers who were hit with Section 301 tariffs six years ago expected they would be rolled back in 18 months or two or three years, said Nicole Bivens Collinson, director of Sandler Travis's international trade and government relations practice. Then, once that didn't happen, they thought they'd see what happened in the Biden administration.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Senate appropriators that a proposed rule on connected vehicles should come out in the fall.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized President Joe Biden's decision to hike tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles under Section 301. Once the change is implemented, a Polestar or Volvo EV would be taxed at 102.5% rather than 27.5%. Rubio, in a letter sent May 14, said the tariff on cars with internal combustion engines must be equally high, because China exported 3.7 million ICE vehicles last year, compared with 1.2 million EVs.
Full details about the Section 301 exclusion process will be revealed next week, but a White House memo said that importers of machinery in chapters 84 and 85 will need to submit requests for exclusions, even though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative already has compiled a list of HTS codes it sees as appropriate targets for exclusions. The memo said there will be a way to register opposition to those requests, as well. The memo said the USTR "shall prioritize, in particular, exclusions for certain solar manufacturing equipment."
The restriction that products that owe Section 301 tariffs will not be able to avoid Column 1 tariffs through the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill could greatly reduce how much money is saved by importers.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Mo., along with 17 Republicans on the committee, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., have introduced a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill to remove $1.3 million a day in tariffs on items not available from domestic producers.