USTR Announces Increase to Section 301 Tariffs on EU Aircraft Parts, Alcoholic Beverages
The U.S. Trade Representative will impose additional Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union as part of the ongoing World Trade Organization dispute over Airbus subsidies, USTR said in an emailed news release Dec. 30. Products subject to the additional tariffs include “aircraft manufacturing parts from France and Germany, certain non-sparkling wine from France and Germany, and certain cognac and other grape brandies from France and Germany,” USTR said. The release didn't say when the changes would take effect.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
The increased tariffs come in retaliation for the EU’s decision to use “distorted” trade data from after COVID-19 hit the global economy as the basis for its $4 billion in tariff retaliation as part of a related WTO dispute over Boeing subsidies. That meant the EU imposed tariffs “on substantially more products than would have been covered if it had utilized a normal period.”
The increase is necessary “to keep the two actions proportionate to each other,” USTR said. Rather than relying on calendar year 2019 data, as it did to calculate its retaliation in the Airbus case, USTR will now base the tariffs on the same period used by the EU. USTR said it is adjusting product coverage than “less than the full amount that would be justified,” but warned that the EU must also adjust its Boeing tariffs to account for the timing of United Kingdom’s exit from the trading bloc.