USTR Estimates Next Round of Exclusions Will Take Year to Process
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative estimated it will take staff and contractors about a year to get through 45,000 exclusion requests it expects between new requests for Lists 3 and 4 and requests to extend exclusions granted in December last year. The estimate is part of a notice in the Federal Register published Nov. 1.
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The office has refined some ways it collects data to evaluate exclusion requests after input from users. It will allow requestors to provide a range of unit values when describing a product, and it will ask if the product is subject to antidumping or countervailing duties.
In the case of exclusion extensions, requestors will need to address
- Whether the particular product and/or a comparable product is available from sources in the United States and/or in third countries
- Any changes in the global supply chain since July 2018 with respect to the particular product, or any other relevant industry developments
- The efforts, if any, the importers or U.S. purchasers have undertaken since July 2018 to source the product from the United States or third countries. (see 1910280059).
Additionally, they will need to address whether Chinese suppliers have lowered their prices for exports subject to Section 301 tariffs. The USTR has argued to Congress that 10 percent and 15 percent tariffs are not economically significant to purchasers because of the falling Chinese currency.
In order to justify the argument that the 15 percent or 25 percent tariff is damaging to the business, USTR will be asking for consumer goods, what proportion of gross sales this product represents, and for inputs, how much of the total cost to create a good the input represents, plus the proportion of gross sales for the final product. It will also ask about previous exclusion requests, and what proportion of the company's imports those cover. Those details do not have to be made public, however.