On Sunday, May 5, 2019, President Trump announced via Twitter that the tariff rate on the third tranche (List 3) of Section 301 tariffs would be increasing from 10% to 25% on Friday, May 10, 2019. According to the tweet, the reason for the increase is that the trade deal negotiations are moving “too slowly” and China’s attempt to “renegotiate.”
In the tweet the President also stated that an additional $325 billion dollars’ worth of goods “will be shortly” taxed at a rate of 25%.
On March 25, 2019, the Court of International Trade issued its decision in the American Institute for International Steel’s appeal on the institution of Section 232 tariffs on steel products. The CIT found that the Section 232 tariffs were constitutional and thus this decision results in the continuation of these tariffs for the foreseeable future.
Our sources advise that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has stated that preparations for an exclusion process for the third tranche of tariffs (List 3) applied to goods from China under Section 301 are currently underway and the process will be launched by the end of the month.
Husch Blackwell announces its February Trade Law Newsletter on key issues and announcements related to International Trade and Supply Chain.
On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it would be conducting a Section 232 investigation on imports of titanium sponge. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross stated that the investigation will be looking into whether or not the “quantity or circumstances” of the imports are a threat to national security.
At the direction of President Trump, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) has announced the United States’ intent to withdraw beneficiary status from India and Turkey under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (“GSP”) program.
On February 28, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a federal register notice delaying the increase in Section 301 (List 3) tariffs to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods until further notice. The tariff rate on goods covered under List 3 will remain at 10%.
On February 24, 2019, President Trump announced via tweet that he would be delaying the increase of Section 301 tariffs on China. The U.S. planned to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10% to 25% on March 1, 2019 (See our previous post here). However, in his February 24 tweet, the President expressed his approval with the status of the trade talks, stating that the parties had made “substantial progress…on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues.” President Trump did not specify a new deadline date for imposing additional tariffs or concluding the trade talks, but anticipates hosting a summit for both himself and President Xi at Mar-a-Lago to conclude the agreement. Just hours after the tweet, President Trump also made a remark at the Governor’s Ball on the bilateral talks, saying, “And if all works well, we’re going to have some very big news over the next week or two.”
On Sunday, February 17, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce reportedly submitted its report to the President following its investigation into whether imported cars and parts pose a threat to national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This investigation was initiated in May 2018 at President Trump’s request. The report has not been released to the public yet. The administration is required to release any part of the report that does not contain classified information in the Federal Register.
The President signed on Friday, February 15, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, an appropriations bill to keep the government fully open. In the Joint Explanatory Statement (JES) from the House Appropriations Committee that accompanied the bill, Congress directs the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to create an exclusion process for the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on China “no later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, following the same procedures as those in rounds 1 and 2….” This language does not tie a round 3 exclusion process to the level of the tariff (10% or 25%). Significantly, though, this language in the JES was not included as part of the bill signed by the President and is therefore not legally binding. Nevertheless, the JES expresses Congress’ intent and indicates that Congress expects USTR to begin an exclusion process covering goods on List 3 no later than March 17, 2019.
