CBP posted a new "reference guide" to the harmonized tariff schedule subheadings currently covered by the Section 301 25 percent tariffs. The guide simply lists the eight-digit subheadings included in the two lists. The first list of 818 subheadings took effect July 6 (see 1807050033) and the second list of 279 subheadings took effect Aug. 23 (see 1808160049).
Section 301 (too broad)
Importers will have to pay an additional 10 percent on about 5,700 8-digit tariff lines starting Sept. 24, President Donald Trump said on Sept. 17. "If China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports," said Trump in the statement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a notice with instructions for making product exclusion requests for the second tranche of Section 301 tariffs that took effect Aug. 23. Granted requests will apply for a year following publication of the exclusion determination in the Federal Register and will be effective retroactively back to Aug. 23, the notice said. The exclusions requests are due by Dec. 18 and responses to the requests "are due 14 days after the request is posted in docket number USTR-2018-0032" on regulations.gov, USTR said. "Any replies to responses to an exclusion request are due the later of 7 days after the close of the 14 day response period, or 7 days after the posting of a response." The instructions are similar to the USTR's instructions for exclusion requests from the first batch of Section 301 tariffs (see 1807160013).
The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill became law Sept. 13 with the signature of the president, the White House announced on Sept. 13. The tariff rate reductions on nearly 1,700 items will take effect Oct. 13 -- 30 days after enactment. The reductions, which will last through the end of 2020, only affect the Most Favored Nation rate and not Section 301 tariffs. The International Trade Commission developed the list, and most of the items are intermediate goods, but some are consumer goods that are not produced in the U.S.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1813 on Aug. 21, containing 22 Automated Broker Interface records and five harmonized tariff records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes changes related to the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China that took effect Aug. 23 (see 1808160049), CBP said. CBP intended to issue the message previously and was "unaware this message did not post successfully initially," it said. Modifications were also made in support of partner government agency message set functionality, it said.
The Trump administration should pursue a “plurilateral agreement among the world’s largest economies” to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices, commented IBM in docket USTR-2018-0026 in opposition to the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports. IBM thinks that a global agreement with China’s “largest trade and investment partners” could help “establish broad new norms,” it said.
The Washington Tax and Public Policy Group opened a new division to focus on trade issues, the lobbying firm said in a news release. The new division, WTG Global, is led by Brian Diffell, who joined the firm in 2013 after working as a congressional staffer. Among issues WTG Global will work on are Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, Section 301 tariffs and NAFTA, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 4-7 in case they were missed.
The Information Technology Industry Council, like the Consumer Technology Association (see 1809070025), questions whether President Donald Trump's proposed third tranche of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports "is legal" under the 1974 Trade Act, spokesman Jose Castaneda said in a Sept. 10 email. ITI has made no “final decision” whether to pursue “litigation” against the administration to block the tariffs from taking effect, he said.
China is a bigger problem than Canada, President Donald Trump told reporters Sept. 7 on Air Force One, and said he has tariffs ready to go on all the other Chinese products that have not faced additional tariffs in the trade war thus far. "Nobody has ever done what I’ve done. The $200 billion we’re talking about, could take place very soon, depending what happens with them," he said, referring to the third tranche of Chinese goods subject to Section 301 tariffs (see 1807110050), whose comment period ended Sept. 6. "And I hate to say that, but behind that, there’s another $267 billion ready to go on short notice, if I want. That totally changes the equation," he said, according to various media reports.