The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on whether the set of tariff exclusions on Chinese imports on Section 301 List 1 that are set to expire June 4 (see 1906030038) should last another year, it said in a notice. The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on April 1. The comments are due by April 30, it said. Each exclusion will be evaluated independently. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties in July 2018, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on March 16. The following headquarters rulings not involving carriers were modified on March 16, according to CBP:
The U.S. imported 3.03 million TVs from all countries in January, a 26.1% increase from December, but a 24% decline from January 2019, according to Census Bureau data accessed March 15 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. January TV imports were worth $798.23 million in customs value, up 9.8% from December, but down 24.8% from the previous January. The average January TV import was worth $263.20, which was 12.6% cheaper than in December and virtually unchanged from January a year earlier.
CBP added on March 16 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the fourth tranche and third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS messages. The exclusions from the fourth group cover various medical supplies, while the tranche three exclusions include other products (see 2003130010). The fourth tranche product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020. The third tranche exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 9-13 in case they were missed.
Supply chain disruptions due to China's lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic may end up not being as relevant as the worldwide economy shudders and stalls. Kurt Tong, former consul general to Hong Kong and a business consultant with the Asia Group, told reporters March 16: “You can have supply chain shocks that are being masked by the fact that there’s no demand for the goods.” He said the abrupt reversal of economic activity means “shipments are going to come down.” Tong and others were speaking on a webinar about trade and the coronavirus.
China accounted for 26% of imports of medical devices, protective gear and other supplies needed to fight the coronavirus epidemic before the trade war began, according to a recent paper by Peterson Institute for International Economics economist Chad Bown -- and after tariffs were put on the goods, those imports fell by 16%.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant one-year extensions to 11 exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire March 25, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The notice is silent on the other exclusions issued alongside the 11 that were granted extensions, so those appear set to expire on March 25.
Correction: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn't include surgical masks or subheading 6307.90.9889 in the first group of Section 301 tariffs, but did include subheading 4015.19.0510 (see 2003060042). Multiple product descriptions, including surgical masks, under subheading 6307.90.9889 were included in new exclusions released March 13 (see 2003130010).
CBP added on March 12 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published on Feb. 20 (see 2002190015). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.40. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, and will expire after Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.