On May 13, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released another round of proposed tariffs on Chinese goods worth roughly $325 billion. If these new tariffs come into effect, this would be the fourth round of tariffs in the ongoing and escalating trade war between the two countries. This proposed list of new tariffs came in response to China’s retaliatory tariff increase on $60 billion worth of U.S. products which was in response to the U.S.’s sudden and unprecedented increase of tariffs to 25% on the third round of Section 301 goods which had been in effect since September 24, 2018.

According to the USTR, these tariffs would “take further action in the form of an ad valorem duty of up to 25 percent.” The USTR released a list of the possible products subject to the new round of tariffs.  President Trump plans to meet with President Xi Jinping next month at the G20 summit in Japan.

USTR is seeking public comments and will hold a public hearing on the new round of tariffs on June 17, 2019.

  • June 10, 2019: The due date for filing requests to appear and a summary of expected testimony at the public hearing
  • June 17, 2019: The due date for submission of written comments.
  • June 17, 2019: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing at the ITC
  • Seven days after the last day of the public hearing: The due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments.

We will continue to monitor this situation closely. For more information on the Section 301 tariffs on China, please contact  Jeffrey NeeleyNithya NagarajanCortney Morgan, Robert Stang, or Beau Jackson.