International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 26-29 in case they were missed.
Section 301 tariff exclusion extensions
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 Sept. 20 (see 1909180013) should extend by up to another year, it said in a notice. The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on June 8. The comments are due by July 7, it said. Each exclusion will be evaluated independently. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on whether three sets of tariff exclusions granted to Chinese imports on Section 301 List 3 that are set to expire Aug. 7, 2020, should be extended for up to another year, it said in a notice. The agency already requested comments on 11 other sets of exclusions that expire the same day (see 2005010030). The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on June 8. The comments are due by July 7, 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 September 2018, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant extensions to 16 exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire June 4, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The exclusions that weren't extended will expire June 4.
Correction: Recently granted Section 301 tariff exclusion extensions (see 2005130003) expire at the end of 2020.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 11-15 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant extensions to 13 exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire May 14, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The exclusions that weren't extended will expire May 14.
CBP reminded importers that they may request extensions of liquidation to preserve their right to refunds of sections 232 and 301 tariffs when liquidation is approaching but their requests for tariff exclusions are still pending, in a CSMS message sent May 1. “Given the potential retroactive application of Section 232 and Section 301 product exclusions, in situations where the importer has requested a product exclusion and the request is pending with the [Commerce Department] or [the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative], the importer or their licensed representative may submit a request to extend the liquidation of impacted unliquidated entry summaries to CBP,” CBP said.
The International Trade Commission recently issued two rapid-fire updates to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Revision 8 to the HTS implemented the suspension of Generalized System of Preferences treatment for many products from Thailand in response to labor rights violations (see 1910280044), effective April 25. Also on that update, the ITC implemented extensions to list 1 Section 301 tariff exclusions under U.S. Note 20(j), as announced in an April 10 notice from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (see 2004080011). In Revision 9, issued April 29, the ITC implemented a new set of Section 301 exclusions for products on list 3, as announced in a USTR notice issued April 24 (see 2004230010). The exclusions are found under U.S. Note 20(xx), and filed under 9903.88.45.