President Trump has directed the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to consider increasing the proposed tariffs under Section 301 from 10% to 25% for the entire $200 billion list (also known as “List 3”). Because of this, the USTR has extended several of the dates in the public comment process.
The USTR circulated an e-mail on August 2 to parties that had submitted a request to appear in the upcoming Section 301 hearing for the “List 3” products. In it, the USTR clarified information provided in a press release on August 1.
To summarize:
- The due date for filing requests to appear and a summary of expected testimony at the public hearing and for filing pre-hearing submissions is extended from July 27 to August 13, 2018.
- The due date for submission of written comments is extended from August 17 to September 5, 2018.
- The due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments is also extended from August 30 to September 5, 2018.
- The scheduled start date of the Section 301 hearing (August 20) has not changed.
- The Section 301 Committee may extend the length of the hearing depending on the number of additional interested persons who request to appear. As of now, the hearing is scheduled to take place from August 20 to August 23.
- The USTR will provide the full hearing schedule the day before the hearing, per USTR policy.