Covered Products

• On June 20, 2018, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a list of products imported from China that will be subject to additional tariffs in the amount of 25 percent. See June 20, 2018 Federal Register notice (83 Fed. Reg. 28710) – https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2018-13248.pdf

The duties are being imposed in response to China’s unfair trade practices related to forced transfer of American technology and intellectual property.

Effective Date

• For the approximately $34 billion worth of imports from China, the additional duty of 25 percent will be collected by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time on July 6, 2018.
• A second set of Chinese imports, valued at approximately $16 billion, were proposed by the interagency Section 301 Committee as benefiting from Chinese industrial policies, including “Made in China 2025.” This list of products will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process, including a public hearing to take place July 24, 2018. At the end of the process, USTR will issue a final determination on the products from this list that would be subject to the additional duties. The effective date is yet to be determined for this second set.

Foreign Trade Zones (FTZ)

• Listed products, except those products eligible for admissionunder “domestic status” as defined in 19 CFR 146.43, which is subject to the additional duty, and that is admitted into a U.S. foreign trade zone on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on July 6, 2018, only may be admitted as “privileged foreign status,” as defined in 19 CFR 146.41. That means the products will be assessed duty based upon the condition when the goods are brought into the FTZ. Such products will be subject upon entry for consumption to any ad valorem rates of duty or quantitative limitations related to the classification under the applicable HTSUS subheading.

Product Exclusion Process

• Administered by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
• Can provide exclusion from the 25 per cent ad valorem duty for a particular product within a tariff subheading but not the tariff subheading as a whole

• The public will have 90 days to file a request for a product exclusion; the request period will end on October 9, 2018.
• Following public posting of the filed request on Regulations.gov, the public will have 14 days to file responses to the request for product exclusion.  After the close of the 14-day response period, interested persons will have an additional 7 days to reply to any responses received in support of or opposition to the request.

• Because exclusions will be made on a product basis, a particular exclusion will apply to all imports of the product, regardless of whether the importer filed a request. CBP will apply the tariff exclusions based on the product.

• Exclusions will be effective for one year upon the publication of the exclusion determination in the Federal Register, and will apply retroactively to July 6, 2018.

How to file Request?

• Via regulations.gov, enter document ID number USTR2018-0025-0001 on the home page and click “search.” The site will provide a search results page listing the Federal Register Notice associated with this docket. Find a reference to this notice and click on the link titled “comment now!”. Once posted on the electronic docket, the exclusion request will be viewable in the “Primary Documents” section.

Chinese Retaliation

• China has retaliated to the U.S. tariffs by imposing tariffs for $50 billion of U.S. goods to be implemented in two phases. Effective July 6, 2018, China has imposed a 25 per cent ad valorem duty on $34 billion of U.S. products across 545 categories. Agricultural products (especially soybeans), sport utility vehicles and electric vehicles are among the products hit.

Resources:

• https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2018-13248.pdf
• On June 15, 2018, President Trump announced that the U.S. would impose an additional 25 per cent ad valorem duty on certain imports from China in response to China’s intellectual property and technology practices
• First set of tariff provisions consisting of 818 lines of the original 1,333 lines of the proposed list published on April 6 covering approximately $34 billion worth of imports from China
• CBP notice regarding “Section 301 Trade Remedies to be Assessed on Certain Products from China effective July 6, 2018”
• Second Set of 284 proposed tariff lines identified by the interagency Section 301 Committee as benefiting the Chinese industrial policies, including the “Made in China 2025” industrial policy
• USTR Press Release on Product Exclusion Process for Chinese Products Subject to Section 301 Tariffs
• Federal Register Notice and Request for Comments on Procedures to Consider Requests for Exclusions

Questions: Should you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Suarez at esuarez@suarezfirm.com or 202.552.0310.