The International Trade Commission issued Revision 18 to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The only change was the addition of Mali to the list of countries in Note 2(d) to subchapter XIX of chapter 98 that are considered lesser developed beneficiary countries for the purposes of textile imports under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The addition of Mali was mandated by Presidential Proclamation 9955, issued Oct. 25. The HTS changes took effect Nov. 30.
The Dec. 3 House passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 will have serious repercussions for U.S.-China trade talks if the bill becomes law, a China Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson threatened on Dec. 4. H.R. 649 and the companion S. 178 that cleared the Senate in September demand tough U.S. sanctions on China over reports of government-run detention centers imprisoning millions of Muslim-minority Chinese citizens in Xinjiang.
President Donald Trump has “no deadline” for striking a trade deal with China, he told reporters Dec. 3 during a meeting in London. “I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal,” he said. The Chinese “want to make a deal now, and we’ll see whether or not the deal’s going to be right,” he said. “It’s got to be right.” A trade agreement is “dependent on one thing -- do I want to make it?” Trump said. “We’re doing very well with China right now. We can do even better with the flick of a pen.” China didn’t immediately comment. Extending the U.S.-China trade war for another year past the 2020 election would be a “bad deal” for “every segment of the economy,” said David French, senior vice president-government relations at the National Retail Federation. “We want and need to see a deal as soon as possible,” said French. Four rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods at 15 percent and higher “continue to hurt U.S. businesses, workers and consumers and are a substantial drag on the U.S. economy,” he said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 25-29 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded in its Trade Act Section 301 investigative report released the evening of Dec. 2 (see 1912020066) that France’s digital services tax (DST), enacted into law in July, discriminates against U.S. companies, tech and business trade associations said. USTR seeks comment by Jan. 6, 2020, in docket USTR-2019-0009 at regulations.gov on its proposal to slap up to 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on 63 subheadings of French imports worth about $2.4 billion in 2018 customs value, mainly cheese, beauty products, handbags and kitchenware. The French government didn’t comment.
September imports of smartphones and computer monitors from China spiked significantly from August, according to Census Bureau statistics accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. The surge was likely evidence of importers’ rush to beat the 15 percent List 4B Section 301 tariffs scheduled to take effect Dec. 15 on those products.
Jasco Products didn’t conceal its anger in seeking exclusions from the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs it pays on the plastic AC outlet safety covers and seven other classifications of tech accessories it imports from China. Jasco is “being forced by its own federal government to undergo a worldwide scouting expedition” for alternative sourcing, “and is actively evaluating several dozen suppliers outside of China,” the supplier said in each of its eight exclusion requests posted Dec. 2 in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. Finding alternative sourcing “will take years and tens of millions of dollars along with extensive business disruption due to the time and resource commitment involved,” Jasco said. “It takes time to identify potential suppliers and perform audits to ensure that the factories meet Jasco’s rigorous standards for quality, safety, labor conditions, and environmental protections.”
The U.S. Trade Representative on Dec. 2 issued a list of 63 subheadings that may face tariffs of up to 100 percent when imported from France in retaliation for that country’s digital services tax. The proposed list, which includes goods of chapters 4, 33, 34, 42, 69 and 73 of the tariff schedule, comes as a result of the agency’s finding that the French tax restricts U.S. comments and violates Section 301. Comments on the proposed tariffs are due to USTR by Jan. 6, and a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7.
Dairy license holders’ DAIRIES accounts are not automatically being decremented for entries subject to Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union, the Cheese Importers Association of America said, citing the Foreign Agricultural Service. “In order to resolve this issue, license holders should direct their brokers to contact CBP at HQQUOTA@cbp.dhs.gov to have CBP manually post the affected entries in the quota system and have the entries reflected in the DAIRIES system,” CIAA said. “Brokers should be prepared to share the following information with CBP about affected entries: Entry Number, Line Number, License Number, CO Origin, Quantity, and HTS Number.” CBP sent out a CSMS message on the issue Nov. 6 (see 1911060009).
U.S. importers sourcing smart speakers, Bluetooth devices, smartwatches and fitness trackers from China filed the most List 4A Section 301 tariff exclusion requests of any consumer tech category through Nov. 27 since the Office of U.S. Trade Representative began accepting the requests Oct. 31, the public docket shows. The broad assortment of goods imported under the 8517.62.0090 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. had the widest tariff exposure of any consumer tech product on List 4A, according to an International Trade Today analysis of Census Bureau statistics accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool.