International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 19-23 in case they were missed.
CBP has assessed more than $10.3 billion in duties under the recent major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Nov. 20, a CBP spokeswoman said. That marks an increase in assessed duties of more than $3 billion since the previous CBP update with numbers from about a month ago (see 1811210013). Most of that increase stems from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, which now account for about $5.8 billion in assessed duties, she said. The first tranche of Section 301 tariffs took effect on July 6 (see 1807050033); the second list took effect on Aug. 23 (see 1808070046); and the third, on Sept. 24 (see 1809240015). CBP also has assessed about $3.1 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $991 million under tariffs on aluminum, the spokeswoman said. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines and solar cells (see 1801230052) account for $489 million in assessed tariffs, she said.
CBP has assessed more than $7.1 billion in duties under the recent major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of mid-October, a CBP spokeswoman said. That includes $3.4 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China as of Oct. 17, she said. The first tranche of Section 301 tariffs took effect on July 6 (see 1807050033); the second list took effect on Aug. 23 (see 1808070046); and the third, on Sept. 24 (see 1809240015). CBP also has assessed about $2.6 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $738 million under tariffs on aluminum as of Oct. 16, the spokeswoman said. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines and solar cells (see 1801230052) account for $416 million in assessed tariffs as of Oct. 16, she said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a 53-page update to the Section 301 investigation that says there has been no fundamental change in China's "acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, and indeed [it] appears to have taken further unreasonable actions in recent months." This Nov. 20 report, which comes 10 days before USTR Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump and other administration officials meet with China's president and negotiators, seems to counterbalance Trump's sunnier tone of late (see 1811190032).
Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly estimated that some 7 percent, or $2.3 billion, of the total cost of goods sold were affected by the 10 percent tariffs imposed at the end of September under Section 301, he said during a Nov. 20 Q3 earnings call. Many of the products on that list of goods were accessories, he said. Costs have been mitigated “in a variety of ways” and the impact affects a “very small portion of our business,” he said. Looking to Jan. 1, when tariffs are scheduled to rise to 25 percent, Joly said his personal view is that “the journey may not be linear, [but] the negotiations with China will progress,” and Best Buy is working with vendors to reduce the effects if tariffs do rise at the first of next year.
The exemption from Section 301 tariffs for goods entered as Section 321 de minimis shipments amounts to a "loophole" that blunts the intended effects of the tariffs, said Michael Stumo, CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, in a Nov. 20 post on the conservative website LifeZette. "It’s a rather strange decision by CBP," Stumo said. "The administration had imposed a tariff on thousands of products that fall within the Section 301 list. But CBP then decided that, as long as an importer brings in less than $800 worth of an item on a particular day, no duties will be collected." Stumo alleged that there's no "statutory or regulatory foundation for the decision, and it contradicts the administration’s goal of changing China’s behavior."
Cisco saw “immaterial” impact in its Q1 ended Oct. 27 from the 10 percent Section 301 tariffs that took effect Sept. 24 on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, because the tariffs kicked in with only a month to go in the quarter, CEO Chuck Robbins said on a Nov. 14 earnings call. Though Cisco hiked prices on Chinese-sourced goods in Q1 to cover the higher tariff costs, it “saw absolutely no demand change” between the week before and the week after the price increases took effect, he said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 5-9 in case they were missed.
Imports at major U.S. retail container ports slowed in September from their “pre-holiday peak,” but stayed at “unusually high levels” as retailers continue bringing in merchandise before the Section 301 tariffs increase to 25 percent in January, the National Retail Federation said on Nov. 9. Retailers know that tariffs “are set to more than double in just a few weeks,” NRF said. “If there are shipments that can be moved up, it makes sense to do that before the price goes up.” Imports customarily drop off “significantly by this time of year, but we’re still seeing numbers that could have set records in the past,” NRF said. U.S. retail ports handled 1.87 million 20-foot containers or their equivalents in September, down 1.3 percent sequentially from August, but up 4.6 percent year-over-year, it said.
It’s “not resolved” whether the Consumer Technology Association will file a lawsuit blocking the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports before they rise to 25 percent, as scheduled for Jan. 1, CTA President Gary Shapiro said at a CTA event Nov. 8. CTA hired Akin Gump to draft a court complaint to block the tariffs and is shopping the draft around to other trade groups seeking their legal and financial support (see 1810290020).