President Trump Announces Tariffs on $300 Billion of Chinese Products

On Thursday, August 1, 2019, President Trump announced via twitter an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese products (“List 4”). This is the fourth round of tariffs in the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. The List 4 tariffs were proposed on May 13, 2019 (see our previous post here).

President Trump indicated that the tariffs will begin on September 1, 2019 at a 10% duty rate and come as a result of China not purchasing large quantities of U.S. agricultural products and its continued sales of fentanyl. To see the full post on President Trump’s tariffs, click here.

USTR Delays Implementation of Section 301 Duties on Certain Tranche 4 Products

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced on August 13, 2019 that several goods included on the upcoming tranche 4 of Section 301 tariffs, including laptops, computer monitors, cell phones, video game consoles, certain toys and certain items of footwear and clothing will not face additional 10 percent tariffs until December 15, 2019. The agency also said there will be some products excluded entirely from the new set of tariffs for health, safety, national security or “other factors.”

USTR released the tariff lines that will not face additional tariffs until December 15, 2019 and the list is far broader than originally anticipated.  The list of products includes electronics, clothes and toys, chemicals, food, camping gear, blankets, baby items, sports equipment, watches, clocks, small appliances, wooden hangers and fireworks, along with a wide variety of clothes and electronics. The list of products on which tranche 4 tariffs are delayed potentially includes more than 650 individual tariff lines. To see the full post on the USTR’s announcement, click here.

President Trump Announces Increases to Tariff Rate on Products from China

On August 23, 2019, President Trump announced via Twitter that the tariff rates on Lists 1, 2, and 3, worth approximately $250 billion worth of goods imported from China, will increase from 25% duty to 30% beginning October 1, 2019. Additionally, the President indicated that the tariff rate on the List 4 tariffs currently set to begin on September 1 will increase to 15% from 10%. It is unclear if the tariffs currently set to go into effect on December 15 will also be increased to 15%.

This action comes after China announced retaliatory tariffs of between 5-10% on approximately $75 billion worth of U.S. imports that will begin in two stages that will mirror the United States’ List 4 tariffs, on September 1, 2019 and December 15, 2019. To see our full post on the announcement, click here.

This article was published by Husch Blackwell in the monthly Trade Law Newsletter. To read the full August Trade Law Update click here.