China

On Saturday, December 1, 2018, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met to discuss trade relations between the two countries. Following their meeting, President Trump indicated that he would postpone increasing the tariff rate to 25% on certain Chinese goods worth up to $200 billion currently covered under Section 301 List 3. This increase was originally slated for January 1, 2019 (see our previous post here).  The 10% duties on that $200 million in goods will remain in effect, however, as will the 25% tariffs on the goods worth about $50 billion, which appear on the first and second list of additional duties. According to the White House press statement, the parties agreed to “endeavor” on a 90-day period, until March 1, 2019, to discuss the restructuring of China’s trade policies and come to an agreement.

On October 11, 2018, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced that it is initiating antidumping duty investigations on Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from Germany, Mexico, and the People’s Republic of China and concurrently initiating a countervailing duty investigation on imports from China.

On September 17, 2018, USTR finalized a list of 5,745 imported products from China (referred to as “List 3”) for which additional tariffs are to be collected starting September 24, 2018 at a rate of 10 percent, rising to 25 percent starting January 1, 2019. The value of List 3 goods is estimated at approximately $200 billion. The Federal Register notice for this announcement was published on Friday, September 21, 2018 and differs somewhat from the Section 301 tariff announcements previously published for List 1 and List 2.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2018, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a process for obtaining product exclusions from the 25% tariffs on certain products imported from China as a response to the Section 301 investigation on China’s trade practices.

On Monday, September 17, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) finalized and released the list of  imported products from China  (approximately $200 billion)  for which additional tariffs are to be collected.  According to President Trump, the initial tariffs will take effect on September 24, 2018 at a rate of 10 percent.  At the direction of the President, he has instructed the USTR to, “increase the level of trade covered by the additional duties in order to obtain elimination of China’s unfair policies.”  Subsequently starting on January 1, 2019 this will increase to 25 percent.