Article by: Rick Walker, Vice President – TradeInsights, LCB/CCS

USTR Finalizes Action on China Section 301 Tariffs Following Four-Year Review

Further to our Article posted on May 22, 2024, the USTR has announced in a Federal Register Notice FRN dated September 12, 2024, their final actions to proposed modifications to certain Section 301 tariffs. You may remember that some of the affected articles were scheduled to have increases on August 1, and others were scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026. After an USTR review of public comments, the scheduled August 1 increases will now take effect on September 27, 2024. The final modifications largely followed those proposed in May 2024.

In modifying these tariffs, President Joseph Biden had directed the USTR in May to increase tariffs on certain imports from China in the following sectors: (i) steel and aluminum, (ii) semiconductors, (iii) electric vehicles, (iv) batteries, battery components, and critical minerals, (v) solar cells, (vi) ship-to-shore cranes, and (vii) medical products. The updates include: (i) new timing and rates for tariffs on face masks, medical gloves, needles, and syringes; (ii) an exclusion for enteral syringes; (iii) a proposal regarding coverage of additional tungsten, wafers, and polysilicon tariff lines; (iv) an exclusion for ship-to-shore cranes ordered prior to May 14, 2024; (v) an expansion of the scope of the machinery exclusions process to include five additional tariff lines; and (vi) modification of the coverage of proposed exclusions for solar manufacturing equipment.

A copy of the original Federal Register Notice which listed the affected items, proposed duty rates, and the proposed implementation dates can be found here.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.