Update on China Section 301 (List 4A) Products

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Update on China Section 301 (List 4A) Products

Posted on Sep 2

September 2, 2020

USTR Extends Exclusions For 87 Products From 7.5% China List 4A Tariffs

Exclusions for most of the items from the 7.5% China List 4A tariffs will expire at midnight on September 1, 2020, however, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on Friday, August 28th that eighty-seven (87) products would be granted extensions until December 31, 2020.

A copy of the USTR notice that contains the full list of List 4A products exclusion extensions can be found here.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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August 8, 2020

USTR Announces Another Round Of Section 301 List 4A Exclusions

The Office of The United States Trade Representative has announced another round of product exclusions from the Section 301 List 4A 7.5% tariffs.

The complete notice, which can be found here, contains 1 subheading (8443.32.1050) that is fully excluded, plus 9 other product specific exclusions.

Imported goods that were entered for consumption between 9/1/2019 and 9/1/2020 may be eligible for these exclusions. It is important to note that these exclusions will expire very soon on 9/1/2020, and the USTR has asked for public comments to help them determine if these exclusions should be extended beyond that date.

If you would like to make a public comment, you can only do so using the USTR online portal and refer to docket number USTR-2020-0031.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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July 24, 2020

USTR Announces Additional China Section 301 List 4A Exclusions

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced this week that a total of 11 complete HTS subheadings and 53 partially excluded HTS subheadings are being excluded from the 7.5% China List 4A tariffs. A copy of the announcement which lists all completely and partially excluded items can be found here. These exclusions will retroactively apply to all products meeting the specified criteria effective September 1, 2019 and will expire on September 1, 2020. All importers who have an eligible product on this list are able to claim an exemption under the new exclusions, regardless of whether the importer was the one that filed the exclusion request.

It’s important to note that since these exclusions will remain in effect for less than two months, the USTR is initiating an immediate review of specific List 4A products/HTS provisions for possible 12 month extensions of exclusions from the China Section 301 additional tariffs. Public comments regarding the possible extension may only be submitted between July 15 and August 14, 2020, and comments must be submitted in the required format through the online portal: https://comments.ustr.gov/portal/s/login/?ec=302&startURL=%2Fportal%2Fs%2F.

Additional information can be uploaded via the portal.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

All hyperlinks in this message are believed to be legitimate and provided for your convenience, however, we cannot take any responsibility for the safety of outside links. We recommend to move to these sites by going to the main websites for the agencies we reference and search for the sites for the mentioned topics from there.

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July 17, 2020

USTR Considers Additional China List 4A Tariff Exclusions for Extension

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is seeking public comments regarding extending the exclusion of items from the sixth set of exclusions that is set to expire on September 1, 2020.

A copy of the USTR notice can be found here.

The sixth set of exclusions covered 61 partially excluded items from 61 HTS subheadings – the complete list of those items can be found here.

If you would like to submit a comment regarding this latest announcement by the USTR, please note that all submission requests must be sent electronically via the USTR Comment Portal and the docket number is USTR-2020-0029. The portal will be open for comments between July 15, 2020 and August 14, 2020.

In evaluating comments, the USTR will be focusing on responses such as, but not limited to the following:

> Can the product be sourced elsewhere?
> Have there been any changes to the product’s supply chain?
> What (if any) efforts have been made to source the product elsewhere?
> Whether Chinese suppliers have lowered their prices for the excluded product following the imposition of tariffs
> What is the value and quantity of the excluded product purchased from domestic and third-country sources in 2018 and 2019?
> Whether the imposition of tariffs on the excluded product will result in severe economic harm to the commenter or other U.S. interests
> Whether the commenter supports or opposes extending the exclusion and why

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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July 9, 2020

USTR Announces More Product Exclusions from China Section 301 List 4A

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced additional product exclusions from the Section 301 China duties found on List 4A.

The List 4A duties are currently 7.5% and these most recent exclusions cover 61 partially excluded HTS subheadings.

A complete list of the excluded items are included in the USTR Notice which can be found here.

These latest exclusions will retroactively apply to all products meeting the specified criteria effective September 1, 2019 and will expire on September 1, 2020.

Any importers who has an eligible product on this list is able to claim an exemption under the new exclusions, regardless of whether that importer filed an exclusion request.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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June 29, 2020

USTR Announces Another Section 301 (Lists 2 and 4A) Exclusion Extension Review

The USTR has announced that it will review previously granted exclusions for possible 12 month extensions. This latest review will include the following:

The second and the third set of exclusions for List 2 goods. The second set of exclusions was issued on September 20, 2019 and is currently set to expire September 20, 2020, while the third set of exclusions was issued on October 2, 2019 and is currently set to expire October 2, 2020.
All five List 4A exclusions. These exclusions were issued on March 10, March 17, March 31, May 13, and June 12, 2020, and are all set to expire September 1, 2020.

The USTR is seeking public comments and comments may be submitted between July 1 and July 30,2020. If you would like to make a comment to the USTR regarding the possible extensions, you must do so through their online portal.

In evaluating public comments, the USTR will be focusing on responses such as, but not limited to the following:

The three USTR notices announcing these latest reviews can be found here:

List 2: Request for Comments Concerning the Extension of Particular Exclusions Granted Under the September 2019 Product Exclusion Notice from the $16 Billion Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (June 25, 2020)

List 2: Request for Comments Concerning the Extension of Particular Exclusions Granted Under the October 2019 Product Exclusion Notice from the $16 Billion Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (June 25, 2020)

List 4A: Request for Comments Concerning the Extension of Particular Exclusions Granted Under the $300 Billion Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation (June 26, 2020)

For ease of reference, the previously granted List 2 and List 4A Products can be found here:

List 2: Notice of Product Exclusions: (September 20, 2019)
List 2: Notice of Product Exclusions: (October 2, 2019)
List 4A: Product Exclusions: (March 10, 2020)
List 4A: Product Exclusions: (March 17, 2020)
List 4A: Product Exclusions: (March 31, 2020)
List 4A: Product Exclusions: (May 13, 2020)
List 4A: Product Exclusion Amendments: (June 12, 2020)

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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06/10/2020

USTR announces Additional Section 301 List 4A tariff Exclusions

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced a new set of product exclusions from Section 301 List 4A Chinese tariffs.

The notice for this latest round of exclusions can be found here and includes exclusions for two complete HTS subheadings – 5210.11.4040 (plain weave sheeting of cotton) and 5210.11.6020 (plain weave poplin or broadcloth of cotton), in addition to 32 other product specific exclusions for items such as gloves, brass valves, safety spectacle frames, fish hooks, mop heads, and many others products.

The exclusions will retroactively apply to all products meeting the specified criteria effective September 1, 2019 and will expire on September 1, 2020.

All importers who have an eligible product are able to claim an exemption under the new exclusions, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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05/13/2020

USTR Announces Exclusions for Certain Products from List 4A Duties

This latest notice can be found here and it contains 3 HTS subheadings fully excluded and 5 partially excluded HTS subheadings from the List 4A 7.5% additional tariffs. The exclusions will retroactively apply to all products meeting the specified criteria, are effective September 1, 2019 and will expire on September 1, 2020.

The 3 fully excluded HTS subheadings are 3306.20.0000 (dental floss), 6506.10.6030 (motorcycle helmets), and 8512.10.4000 (motorcycle visual signaling equipment). The 5 products partially excluded include plastic tumblers used in healthcare facilities (3924.10.4000), plastic disposable identification wristbands worn by medical patients (3926.90.9990), plastic manually-operated pill or tablet crushers (8479.82.0080), Bluetooth tracking devices (8517.62.0090), and wireless communication apparatus capable of receiving audio data to be distributed to wireless speakers (8517.62.0090).

Importers who have an eligible product are able to claim an exemption under the new exclusions, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request.

USTR Announces Medical And Other Goods Excluded from China List 4A Tariffs

Additional medical products and other goods have been excluded from the Section 301 additional 7.5 percent tariff on List 4A goods from China. These exclusions will be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2019, and remain in place until Sept. 1, 2020. With this latest notice, 5 HTS subheadings completely were excluded from List 4a tariffs and 7 product specific subheadings were excluded. The 5 completely excluded subheadings are:

1) 0505.10.0050
2) 3926.90.9925
3) 6506.10.3045
4) 8512.10.2000
5) 8528.72.6420

The list of product specific exclusions are listed in the USTR notice, which can be found here.

USTR Announces More Product Exclusions for List 4A

The List 4A notice contains 19 HTS subheadings partially excluded from List 4A tariffs, which cover 39 separate exclusion requests.

These partial exclusions includes products such as surgical and medical items, plastic medicine dispensing cups, cold packs, hot packs, eye compresses, disposable shoe and boot covers and shoe cover dispensers, textile face masks and medical masks, and gel pads of textile materials. These exclusions will retroactively apply to all products meeting the specified criteria effective September 1, 2019 and will expire on September 1, 2020.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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03/10/2020

USTR Announces First Exclusions Announced for China List 4A Goods

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has announced the first set of duty exclusions from the Section 301 additional tariff for List 4A goods from China. This additional tariff was set at 15 percent effective Sept. 1, 2019, but was lowered to 7.5 percent effective Feb. 14, 2020. In all, 8, HTS subheadings have been fully excluded and cover items such as laboratory ware, medical gloves, certain surgical drapes, certain soap and organic surface-active products and preparations, and nonwoven disposable apparel designed for use in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, or contaminated areas. The 8 HTS subheadings are 3401.19.0000, 3926.90.9910, 4015.19.0510, 4015.19.0550, 4818.90.0000, 6210.10.5000, 6307.90.6090, and 6307.90.6800. The complete USTR notice can be found here.

This fist round of List 4A exclusions will be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2019, and remain in place until Sept. 1, 2020.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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12/04/2019

The planned additional 15% tariff on products provided for in China List 4B is still expected to take place on December 15, as originally scheduled.

While both sides continue negotiating, there is nothing to indicate the 15% increase on December 15 will be delayed.

A copy of the original Federal Register Notice containing List 4B HTS subheadings (see Annex B) items can be found here .

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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10/21/2019

USTR Accepting List 4 Tariff Exclusion Requests on October 31

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that on October 31, 2019 it will begin accepting tariff exclusion requests for Chinese imports subject to an additional 15 percent tariff (List 4A tariffs) that went into effect on September 1, 2019. Exclusion requests will be received via USTR’s online exclusion request processing portal. Details regarding the application process will be published in the Federal Register next week. Requests for exclusions from the additional tariff imposed as of Sept. 1, 2019 on List 4A imports from China may be submitted between Oct. 31, 2019 and Jan. 31, 2020. Any exclusions granted will be effective for one year, starting from Sept. 1, 2019, the effective date for List 4A.

Also, additional exclusions for Chinese imports subject to an additional 25 percent tariff (List 3 tariffs) will be issued next week in response to approximately 150 exclusion requests as part of our ongoing process.

For more information on the Section 301 tariff exclusion request process, please click here.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team with any questions and follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.

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08/15/2019

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has just released the draft of the upcoming Federal Register notice detailing China Lists 4A and 4B. The formal notice in the Federal Register should appear as soon as tomorrow. The draft notice can be found here.

Important to note is that the imposition of the additional duties will be based on the date the cargo arrives in to the United States, and not the date of export as in the past. This notice verifies that there will be no “grace period” for goods on the water or exported prior to the stated dates. The additional duty is due if the goods are entered into the U.S. on or after September 1, 2019 or December 15, 2019 respectively.

Accordingly, List 4A products will have an additional tariff of 10% effective for merchandise entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after September 1, 2019.

Likewise, List 4B products will have an additional tariff of 10% effective for merchandise entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after December 15, 2019.

If you have any questions, please contact your V. Alexander account team.

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08/13/2019

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative advised that it will delay the tariffs scheduled to go into effect September 1 for some Chinese-made goods like cellphones, laptop computers, video game consoles, some toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing to December 15.

USTR just published List 4(b) with the articles exempt from the September 1 increase.

For other goods the 10% tariffs are still scheduled to go into effect September 1.

These goods are listed in List 4(a) that was just published by USTR.

Other items are scheduled to be removed from the list of affected goods based “on health, safety, national security and other factors.”

We will advise further details when they are available.

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08/01/2019

In our previous update on July 1, we advised that the additional China List 4 duties had been temporarily postponed.

Today, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. is putting 10% tariffs on that $300 billion worth of Chinese goods (List 4), effective September 1, 2019.

“Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country…We look forward to continuing our positive dialogue with China on a comprehensive Trade Deal, and feel that the future between our two countries will be a very bright one!” Trump said in a tweet on Thursday.

The surprise tariff announcement came after the U.S. and China restarted trade talks in Shanghai this week, the first in-person trade talks since a G-20 truce. The White House said on Wednesday before this Trump tweet the meetings were “constructive,” adding that China confirmed their commitment to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural exports. Trade negotiations will continue in Washington in early September, according to the White House statement.

V. Alexander will continue to monitor this changing situation and issue updates accordingly.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team for any additional information.