The President announced yesterday that additional Section 301 tariffs for China will be implemented on September 24, 2018. This assessment covers $200 billion worth of Chinese-origin imports. The notice can be found here.
The additional duties will start at 10% and raise to 25% at the end of the year if China has not entered into meaningful negotiations. The delay is also designed to allow companies time to find alternative sources of supply.
The list contains 5,745 full or partial lines of the original 6,031 tariff lines that were on a proposed list of Chinese imports announced on July 10, 2018. Changes to the proposed list were made after the USTR reviewed comments and testimony over a six-week period. As a result, the USTR determined to fully or partially remove 297 tariff lines from the original proposed list. The revisions to List 3 are available here.
In response to these latest tariffs, China has announced new retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. The Chinese retaliatory tariffs will also take effect on Sept. 24 and range from 5% to 10%. China has announced it will increase these tariff rates if the U.S. goes ahead with higher rates in January.
The Administration had previously indicated it will consider another round of tariffs aimed at an additional $267 billion of additional imports if China retaliated – which it has. We expect a “List 4” may be announced shortly.
Please contact one our attorneys or team members if you need assistance with verifying product coverage, filing for product exclusions, or evaluating other mitigating strategies. Companies exporting product from the U.S. may also wish to evaluate duty drawback refunds to recover Section 301 tariffs paid on imported merchandise which is later re-exported or used in production of finished goods that are later exported.
Rock Trade Law is also a licensed customs broker and drawback filer and may be able to assist with your refund recoveries.
Additional 10% Tariffs Imposed Against China; Escalates to 25% in 2019