tariffs

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.

Yesterday, Beau Jackson, Robert Stang and Linda Tiller joined manufacturers, distributors and service providers in Kansas City for a discussion about the impact of tariffs on the business community. This insightful program included economic, industry and legal perspectives on current trade conditions and the various implications of recently-imposed tariffs.

Read more on the TMT

On December 28, 2018, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) published in the Federal Register  the first notice granting  product exclusions for specific products from the Section 301 tariffs subject to an additional 25% duty effective July 6, 2018.   The exclusions apply only to the $34 billion worth of Chinese tariffed products from Tranche 1. These exclusions will extend for one year from the date of publication of the notice.

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 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.

On August 7, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the second list of products that will be subject to an additional 25 percent tariff when imported from China.   After a public hearing and comment period, USTR ultimately only removed 5 tariff lines from the list proposed in its notice of June…

As previously reported, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a notice proposing an additional 10 percent tariff on approximately 6,000 8-digit tariff codes estimated to cover approximately $200 billion worth of imports from China. Our blog post can be found here and the list of products can be found here.

On…