The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that starting on October 31, 2019, the exclusion process for Chinese imports subject to List 4 Section 301 tariffs of 15% will open and will conclude on January 31, 2020.
Details on the specifics of the application process are to be published in the Federal Register…
On October 2, 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Arbitrator ruled in favor of the United States and Boeing in its dispute against the European Union and Airbus on the subsidies provided by the E.U. to Airbus. The ruling permits the U.S. to levy retaliatory tariffs on approximately $7.5 billion worth of European exports to…
On September 30, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register Notice announcing two new sets of product exclusions for Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The newly granted exclusions cover 92 product exclusions from the first tranche of Section 301 tariffs, which went into effect on July…
On September 25, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a new bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and Japan. According to the Office of the USTR, Japan will reduce or eliminate tariffs for certain American agricultural goods, while the U.S. will reduce or eliminate tariffs for certain agricultural imports from Japan. American agricultural goods…
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.”
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).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on July 1, 2019 a proposed list of tariffs on approximately $4 billion worth of products from the European Union (EU). This is a supplemental list to the April 12, 2019 proposed tariffs with an approximate trade value of $12 billion.
According to USTR, this action is designed to pressure the EU to implement the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body recommendations in regard to the United States’ WTO dispute against the EU’s subsidies on large civil aircraft.
Interested parties can appear at a public hearing or file comments on the proposed list.
On July 10, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it had opened an investigation directed at the Government of France under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The announcement came as the French Senate considered a new digital services tax (“DST”)—enacted a day later—imposing a 3% revenue tax on companies providing certain online services directed at French customers that earn annual revenues of at least €25 million in France and at least €750 million worldwide.
In a sudden announcement after 8pm on Friday May 31, 2019, the President made the anticipated decision that India was to be removed from the Generalized System of Preferences (“GSP”), effective June 5, 2019. The statement issued by the White House claims that the President had “determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets.” The end of the GSP eligibility and removal of India’s developing country status comes after holding that status for approximately 30 years and is a deepening indication of the U.S.’s increased protectionist stance in the global trade environment. To see our full post on India losing its GSP status, click here.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on June 19, 2019 an exclusion process for product exclusions from the tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products (“List 3”). The exclusion process will open at noon (EDT) on June 30, 2019.
The exclusion process for List 3 will be slightly different from the process involved for the List 1 and 2 exclusions. USTR is opening a portal at http://exclusions.USTR.gov/ for requestors to file exclusion requests and interested parties to comment on them. Among other information, the questions in the exclusion request form will require data on the company’s gross revenues, percentage of total gross sales for which the requested product accounted, and the amount of sourcing of the product from domestic or third-country suppliers.
