Report: Deferral on MFN Tariffs Coming Soon
Safeguard duties, trade remedies and sections 232 and 301 duties will still be due at the time of import, but the normal, most favored nation (MFN) duties will be able to be deferred for 90 days, Bloomberg reports. The wire service said CBP proposed a broader swath of tariffs eligible for deferral, but the president didn't want to include the tariffs that his administration imposed. Bloomberg said the executive order could come this week. Most MFN tariffs are lower than the 25% tariffs applied to billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports, but in apparel, footwear and on pickup trucks, there are tariffs that high or higher. Several options for the deferral had been under discussion in recent days (see 2003280001). CBP did not comment.
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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told International Trade Today earlier on March 31 that the administration had not ruled out offering businesses the opportunity to put off paying duties when imports arrive into the country, because of the economic crisis caused by the government's decision to order many businesses to close to flatten the infection curve of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. “There’s nothing totally decided, but a lot of us in the Senate have been advocating that the administration give some forbearance on that,” he said on a phone call with reporters.