Finished TVs Among Broad Swath of Tech Goods Facing 25% Tariffs in 4th Tranche
Finished TVs from China that escaped the first round of Section 301 tariffs in July would join the broad swath of consumer tech goods facing 25 percent duty exposure in a fourth tranche of goods listed in an Office of U.S. Trade Representative notice released late Monday afternoon. The $300 billion in goods on the list are the biggest tranche of the four so far and represent virtually all of the remaining Chinese imports not previously dutied.
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USTR officially listed the new round of tariffs as “under consideration.” For now, a single day of public hearings on the proposed duties is set for June 17. The notice appears to be flexible on scheduling additional days of hearings. Roughly 350 witnesses testified on the List 3 tariffs in hearings that spanned six days in late August.
June 10 is the due date for filing requests in docket USTR-2019-0004 at regulations.gov to appear at the hearing and submit a summary of expected testimony, said the notice. Written comments on the proposed tariffs are due June 17, the same date listed for the public hearing. The notice gives wiggle room for the scheduling of marathon hearings, should many hundreds more request appearances as they did for List 3. Post-hearing rebuttal comments will be due “seven days after the last day of the public hearing,” it said.
The proposed list encompasses 3,805 “full and partial tariff subheadings,” said the notice. It covers “essentially all products not currently covered by action in this investigation,” it said. The proposed list “excludes pharmaceuticals, certain pharmaceutical inputs, select medical goods, rare earth materials, and critical minerals,” it said. Product exclusions granted in “prior tranches” will not be affected in the new action, it said.
The wording of the notice suggested last-minute edits were made in the text. USTR's justification for proposing the fourth tranche was that China in a recent round of talks "retreated from specific commitments made in previous rounds," said the notice. "China also has announced further retaliatory action against U.S. commerce," it said. Though USTR late Friday said it would release details of the fourth tranche in a Monday notice, the Chinese foreign affairs ministry didn't announce the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports until Monday morning EDT.
Finished TVs from China imported to the U.S. under the 8528.72.64 Harmonized Tariff Schedule are again on the list, as are a broad assortment of other consumer tech goods. It bears watching to see how USTR squares tariffs on those goods in the fourth tranche with its June 15 decision to exclude duties on those goods in the first round on grounds that USTR wanted to protect products “commonly purchased by American consumers.”
The "latest tariff escalation is far too great a gamble for the U.S. economy," said National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay. "Slapping tariffs on everything U.S. companies import from China – goods that support U.S. manufacturing and provide consumers with affordable products – will jeopardize American jobs and increase costs for consumers."
CTA didn't immediately comment. U.S. imports of products from China that were on List 1 and were products that CTA members import from China totaled $25 billion in 2017, CTA said in comments last year. Though many like TVs were removed from the list, most of those removed are now newly exposed to tariffs.