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The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be issuing a mandatory questionnaire to companies that benefitted from the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018 (MTB Act). The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect information that will allow the ITC to prepare a report to examine the effect of duty suspensions and reductions contained in the MTB Act on the U.S. economy.

Photo by Guillaume Bolduc on Unsplash;

The MTB Act requires the ITC to solicit and append this report the agency’s recommendations with respect to domestic industry sectors or specific domestic industries that might benefit from permanent duty suspensions and reductions. Once the ITC report is completed, it will be posted at https://www.usitc.gov/mtbeffects for public comment.

Originally announced in the Federal Register on October 9, 2018, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has also instituted a new fact-finding investigation (Inv. No. 332-565; American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act: Effects of Temporary Duty Suspensions and Reductions on the U.S. Economy) to examine the effects of the newly enacted miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB). However, as a consequence of the Government Shutdown, a yet to be published Federal Register Notice will formally announce new deadlines for filings. These deadlines are:

  • Filing requests to appear at the public hearing – March 18 2019;
  • Filing prehearing briefs and statements – March 21, 2019;
  • The public hearing is now scheduled for April 8, 2019;
  • Filing post-hearing briefs – April 15, 2019;
  • Filing all other written submissions – April 23, 2019; and
  • The USITC will transmit its report to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance (Committees) by October 18, 2019.

All other dates pertaining to this investigation remain the same as in the notice published in the Federal Register on October 9, 2018.

 

 

 

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department) posted a generic version of its tolling memorandum extending all deadlines before the Department in all Antidumping and Countervailing Duty (AD/CVD) proceedings active during the partial government shutdown.

A copy of the memorandum can be found here on the International Trade Administration’s Enforcement and Compliance Website.

 

Photo by Allen Allen;

The USTR published a Federal Register Notice announcing its yearly “special review” to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Section 301).  Based on this review, the USTR will determine whether to identify “Priority Foreign Countries” defined under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Priority Foreign Countries are countries for which the USTR can implement an investigation pursuant to Section 301 to determine whether certain trade measures are appropriate to address a country’s restrictions on trade and intellectual property rights. The most recent investigation under Section 301 occurred in 2017 and 2018 and resulted in the USTR implementing tariffs on approximately $250 billion of imports from China.

The USTR requested that interested parties provide written comments to identify “countries whose acts, policies, or practices deny adequate and effective protection for intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection.” The Special 301 provisions also require the Trade Representative to identify any act, policy, or practice of Canada that affects cultural industries, was adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992, and is actionable under Article 2106 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The USTR requested that interested parties file written comments that identify acts, policies, or practices that may form the basis of a country’s identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List by February 7, 2019. USTR also requests that parties file notices of intent to appear at the public hearing by February 21, 2019. The public hearing will be held on February 27, 2019. Parties who testified at the hearing must submit posthearing written comments by March 5, 2019. The USTR indicated that it will publish the 2019 Special 301 Report on or around April 26, 2016.

On December 28, 2018, USTR published in the Federal Register the first Section 301 List 1 Product Exclusions. The exclusions apply as of the July 6, 2018 effective date of “List 1,” and will extend for one year after the publication of this notice. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will issue instructions on entry guidance and implementation.

Please see our earlier blog post discussing the details of this notice, as it was announced and posted by USTR on December 21, 2018.

 

 

On December 21, 2018 USTR submitted for publication a Federal Register Notice with the first list of products excluded from Section 301 Tariffs on certain products from China. The Products were originally published on the USTR’s “List 1” which included $34 Billion worth of imports from China. The USTR granted 984 individual exclusion requests involving 21 separate HTS codes. An index of all “List 1” exclusion requests and their status in the review process was also released by the USTR.

Once published in the Federal Register, the product exclusions apply as of the July 6, 2018 effective date of “List 1,” and will extend for one year after the publication of this notice. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will issue instructions on entry guidance and implementation.

Exclusions were granted in two ways.

1) Exclusions that apply to the following  8 individual 10  digit HTS codes regardless of product descriptions noted in exclusion requests:

(i) 8412.21.0075

(ii) 8418.69.0120

(iii) 8480.71.8045

(iv) 8482.10.5044

(v) 8482.10.5048

(vi) 8482.10.5052

(vii) 8525.60.1010

2) Products that meet 24 separate product descriptions sourced from language in exclusion requests.

The publication date is currently unknown due to the lapse in government funding and partial government shutdown.

 

Last updated on 1/17/2019: India Retaliatory Tariffs on goods of US origin- effective date now 1/31/2019.

Unofficial spreadsheet with Final 301 list, partial list, and HTS’ removed added.

U.S. Trade Actions

Action Covered Products Rate Increase Effective Date
Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Steel – 25%
Aluminum – 10%		 6/1/2018
Status: Steel – all countries of origin except South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina (agreed to quotas); and Australia (exempted).

Aluminum – all countries of origin except Argentina (agreed to quota); and Australia (exempted).

Beginning August 13, steel articles covered by Section 232 from Turkey are subject to an ad valorem duty rate of 50%.

On October 24, South Africa was granted exemptions on 161 aluminum and 36 steel products by the Commerce Department.
Section 232 Autos and Automotive Parts TBD TBD
Status: For the latest status, please click here.
Section 301 For the final list of products in List 1, please click here.

For the final list of products in List 2, please click here.

For the final list of products in List 3, please click here.

 25%

 

25%

 

10%

25%

 7/6/2018

 

8/23/2018

 

9/24/2018

TBD
Status: List 1 totaling $34 billion worth of imports is composed of 818 tariff lines, and went into effect on 7/6/2018.

List 2 totaling $16 billion worth of imports was originally composed of 284 proposed tariff lines identified by the interagency Section 301 Committee. 279 of the 284 lines went into effect on 8/23/2018.

For full details on List 2, please click here.

List 3 totaling approximately $200 billion of imports was originally composed of 6,031 tariff lines. 5,745 full and partial lines go into effect on 9/24/2018.

For full details on List 3, please click here.

Unofficial searchable and filterable spreadsheet with Current U.S. Section 301 Tariff Lists (Updated for Final List 3)

Retaliatory Actions

 

Canada For covered products, please click here. Table 1 – 25%
Table 2 – 10%
Table 3 – 10%		 7/1/2018
Status: The Canadian government received over 1,000 submissions of public feedback during public consultations on its original list.

Canada is imposing countermeasures against C$16.6 billion in imports of steel, aluminum, and other products from the U.S., representing the value of 2017 Canadian exports affected by the U.S. tariffs.
EU For covered products, please click here. Annex I – 10% or 25%
Annex II – 10% – 50%		 Annex I – 6/22/2018
Annex II – 3/23/2021 or 5th day after WTO Dispute Settlement Body rules against the U.S. action, whichever is first.
Status: For the latest status, please click here.
Mexico For the translated list of covered products, please click here. 7% – 25% (pages 1-4)

 

10% – 15% (page 5)

 6/5/2018

7/5/2018
Status: Most retaliatory measures effective as of 6/5/2018. An “exception” list is effective on 7/5/2018.
China (Response to Section 232 Tariffs) For covered products, please click here. Annex I – 15% – 25% 4/3/2018
Status: See above.
China (Response to Section 301 Tariffs) For covered products in List 1, please click here.

(Unofficial Version)

 25% 7/6/2018
For covered products in List 2, please click here.(Unofficial Version) 25% 8/23/2018
For covered products in List 3 (announced August 3), please click here.(Unofficial Version) Annex 1 and 2 – now 10%

Annex 3 – now 5%

Annex 4 – remains 5%

(Originally 1-3 were 25, 20, and 10 percent, respectively)

 9/24/2018
Status: List 1 is composed of 545 tariff lines, and goes into effect on 7/6/2018.

List 2 contains 333 tariff lines on U.S. goods worth $16 billion. Start date is 8/23/2018.

List 3 contains 5,207 tariff lines on U.S. worth $60 billion. Start date is 9/24/2018.
India For covered products, please click here. Up to $10.6 billion;
Annex I – 5% – 100%		 1/31/2019
Status: The U.S. declined India’s request for WTO consultations.
Japan For covered products, please click here. Up to $1.91 billion TBD – no earlier than March 23, 2021, or the 5th day following the date of a decision from the WTO DSB, whichever comes first.
Status: No update since May 18, 2018. Ambassador Lighthizer is holding trade talks with Economy Minister Motegi in July. Under Secretary McKinney is also leading a trade mission to Japan to discuss a possible bilateral trade deal.
Russia For covered products, please click here. Additional Tariffs of 25, 30, 35, or 40% 8/6/2018
Status: On August 6, 2018, Russia began imposing additional tariffs on selected U.S. products.
Turkey For covered products, please click here. Up to $1.78 billion;
Annex I – 5% – 40%Increased certain duties by 4 to 140%		  

6/21/2018

8/15/2018

 
Status:

Continue Reading Latest U.S. Trade Actions/Tariffs and Other Countries Retaliatory Measures – Updated January 17, 2019

On September 4, 2018, the House agreed to Senate amendments made to the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) Act of 2018 last month, moving the legislation to the president for signature. The White House reportedly indicated President Trump will sign the bill. The last MTB passed by Congress expired on December 31, 2012.

Once signed into law, the bill would cut or eliminate tariffs on articles such as chemicals, footwear, toasters, and roughly 1,660 other items made outside the United States. Roughly half of those items are produced in China and there is an overlap between MTB and the Section 301 tariffs in effect, and those being considered.

Section 1664 states the effective date is on or after the 30th day after the date of the enactment of the Act. It provides for duty suspensions and reductions through December 31, 2020.

The next MTB petition cycle will be in the Fall of 2019.

The purpose of MTB is to reduce or eliminate what many businesses claim are unfair, out-of-date and/or anticompetitive taxes.

 

 

 

On August 16, 2018, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register the formal notice for the China Section 301 tariffs beginning on August 23.

The USTR published the final list of 279 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings known collectively as ‘List 2’ on August 7, 2018. These tariff lines will see an additional ad valorem duty of 25% on products from China and is worth $16 billion.

Unlike the notice implementing List 1 from June 20, 2018, the USTR:

  • Added to Annex A of this notice clarifications on the application of the additional duties to goods entered under certain provisions of Chapter 98 and 99 of the HTSUS;
  • In Annex C to this notice, modifies the HTSUS note in Annex A to the June 20 notice in order to reflect these clarifications; and
  • Annex C makes a conforming amendment to the HTSUS heading in Annex A to the June 20 notice, and makes a technical correction to the HTSUS note in Annex A to the June 20 notice.

The tariff subheadings in Annex A and B are the same. The latter list includes unofficial descriptions of the types of products covered in each subheading.

Regarding product exclusions, the notice states, “…the Trade Representative has determined that USTR will establish a process by which U.S. stakeholders may request that particular products classified within an HTSUS subheading listed in Annex A be excluded from these additional duties. The process will be comparable to the exclusion process established in connection with the initial, $34 billion trade action. USTR will publish a separate notice describing the product exclusion process, including the procedures for submitting exclusion requests, and an opportunity for interested persons to submit oppositions to a request.”

Check here for the latest developments on all the on-going trade actions.

 

On August 10, 2018, President Trump issued a new Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States from Turkey. Steel articles covered by Section 232 from Turkey are now subject to an ad valorem duty rate of 50%.

On August 12, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) issued Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) #18-000477, which stated:

  • The increased duty rates began at 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 13, 2018.
  • In addition to reporting the regular Chapters 72 & 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) classification for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the following HTSUS classification for imported merchandise subject to the additional duty:
    • 9903.80.02 (50% ad valorem duty rate for products of iron and steel that are the product of Turkey).

On August 7, 2018, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released a final list of approximately $16 billion worth of imports from China that will be subject to a 25 percent additional tariff. The list contains 279 of the original 284 tariff lines that were on a proposed list announced on June 15.

Update: the five tariff items that were excluded from the final List 2 are:

3913.10.00 Alginic acid, and its salts and esters, in primary forms
8465.96.00 Splitting, slicing or paring machines for working wood, cork, bone, hard rubber, hard
plastics or similar hard materials
8609.00.00 Containers (including containers for transport of fluids) specially designed and
equipped for carriage by one or more modes of transport
8905.90.10 Floating docks
9027.90.20 Microtomes

Changes to the proposed list were made after USTR and the interagency Section 301 Committee sought and received written comments and testimony during a two-day public hearing last month. Customs and Border Protection will begin to collect the additional duties on the Chinese imports on August 23.

A formal notice of the $16 billion tariff action will be published in the Federal Register. Please contact us if you have any questions or need assistance.