Walmart continues to “monitor” the Section 301 “tariff discussions” between the U.S. and China and is “hopeful that an overarching long-term agreement can be reached,” said CEO Doug McMillon in a fiscal Q3 “management commentary” Thursday. “Our merchants continue to execute appropriate mitigation strategies as our goal is to be the low-price leader.” Walmart left unchanged its August full-year sales forecast. “Guidance assumptions include our current understanding of the timing of tariff implementation on various categories,” said McMillon. List 4B tariffs at 15 percent are scheduled to take effect Dec. 15 on smartphones, tablets, laptops and other tech categories.

Customs and Border Protection collected $36.84 billion in Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods for the life of the duties through Wednesday, said the agency’s trade statistics page. The first of the Chinese tariffs took effect July 6, 2018 (see 1806150030).

The U.S. and China are “close” to a trade agreement, President Donald Trump told the Economic Club of New York Tuesday. The Chinese are “dying to make a deal,” said Trump. “We’re the ones that are deciding whether we want to make a deal.” A “significant phase 1 trade deal with China could happen,” and “could happen soon,” he said. “But we will only accept a deal if it’s good for the United States and our workers and our great companies.” If the U.S. doesn’t make a deal, “we’re going to substantially raise those tariffs,” he said. The “real cost” would be if the U.S. “did nothing” to curb China’s allegedly unfair practices, he said. “The cost of doing nothing was killing us as a country.” The Treasury soon will reach $100 billion in Section 301 tariffs collected on Chinese imports, he said. “You haven’t seen inflation and you haven’t seen, in many cases, price increases.”

The additional 15 percent Section 301 List 4A duties imposed Sept. 1 on the blank CDs and DVDs that Vinpower Digital imports from China under the 8523.41.00 tariff code are causing “significant harm in a market that is severely price sensitive and works on slim margins,” said the vendor in an exclusion request posted Monday at the Office of U.S. Trade Representative docket. Vinpower bills itself as a leading global supplier of digital duplication hardware and optical media. Blank optical discs were “previously produced in the US, but the demand and price decreased to a level where it was no longer financially viable to continue producing in the USA,” said Vinpower. “The factories closed and production ceased to exist in the USA.” The vendor is “not sure” the goods can be sourced from a third country because the 8523.41.00 tariff code “incorporates a broad product range that can be generated by a larger list of manufacturers,” it said. The goods Vinpower needs encompass “a very niche product line and the overall demand for this product is shrinking,” it said. Most manufacturers “have exited the market for other endeavors or became insolvent,” it said. “Only a small handful of factories” still produce blank optical media, “and we require a more refined product that incorporates a specific expertise and capability that is currently only available in China,” it said. The lack of availability “demonstrates our need to work with one of the few nations that still boasts sizeable production of A grade” optical discs, it said.

DOJ is pursuing criminal charges against Aventura Technologies for selling Chinese-origin goods falsely labeled U.S.-origin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York announced. Seven current and former employees were named. "Aventura imported networked security products from [Chinese] manufacturers with known cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and resold them to U.S. military and other government installations while claiming that they were American-made," DOJ alleged Thursday. "The government intercepted and covertly marked numerous" such shipments, it alleged. Some apparently were "pre-marked with Aventura’s logo and the phrase 'Made in USA,' accompanied by an American flag." DOJ said the company "made upwards of $88 million, including over $20 million in federal government contracts" over a decade, "while claiming that it was manufacturing its products at its headquarters in Commack," New York. The company didn't comment.

Imports at major U.S. retail container ports this month are expected to have their “final surge” of 2019 before the 15 percent List 4B Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods take effect Dec. 15, said the National Retail Federation Friday. “Retailers are encouraged by reports that China and the United States have agreed to remove at least some of the existing tariffs once a ‘phase one’ deal is signed,” said NRF. “We are eager to see concrete evidence that the trade war is coming to an end with a final deal that removes all tariffs.” There is “no word” from the Trump administration on the fate of the List 4B tariffs still set for December, it said. “Industry planning is in a state of confusion with the on-again, off-again tariff increases and the widening of trade disputes.”

China and the U.S. agreed to lift tariffs in stages as they progress toward a phase 1 trade agreement, said a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson Thursday. If the two sides reach a phase 1 deal, "they should cancel the tariffs that have been imposed according to the content of the agreement,” said the spokesperson in an unofficial translation. “The trade war starts with the addition of tariffs and should also be terminated by the elimination of tariffs.” Canceling tariffs in stages is “an important condition for reaching an agreement,” said the spokesperson. The U.S. and China negotiating teams remain in “close communication,” he said. “The leaders of the two sides have conducted serious and constructive discussions on properly addressing their core concerns,” he said. Eliminating the tariffs “will help stabilize market expectations, benefit the economies of the two countries and the world economy, benefit producers, and benefit consumers,” he said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn't comment Thursday.

The International Trade Commission issued a general exclusion order banning all imports of earpiece devices that infringe patents held by Bose, it says in a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register. The exclusion order, which applies across the board and isn't specific to any company’s products, results from a Section 337 investigation launched in June 2018 based on Bose’s allegations that companies in the U.S. and China were copying its StayHear earbuds (see 1806280035). The ITC also issued a limited exclusion order specifically banning import and sale of infringing earbuds by V4ink, plus cease and desist orders against 1MORE, Beeebo, Phaiser, REVJAMS, V4ink, Misodiko, Phonete and TomRich. The ITC set bond at 100 percent of entered value during the 60-day period the administration has to review the exclusion order.

The LCD TV panel assemblies that Element imports for putting finished sets together in South Carolina “are not currently commercially available from any country other than China,” said the vendor in a List 4A Section 301 tariff exclusion request posted Friday at the Office of U.S. Trade Representative’s public docket. “Element is exploring options for alternative sources of supply, but no non-China sources are currently available,” said the vendor, which supplies LCD TVs to Walmart and other big-box retailers and consistently places within the top tier of TV unit-share leaders. An International Trade Commission and Commerce Department Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) “review” confirmed “there is no US production of LCD panel assemblies,” said Element. It got a temporary suspension of the 4.5 percent duties on the LCD panel assemblies it sources from China under the 9013.80.90 tariff line through an MTB Act that President Donald Trump signed last September to promote U.S. production at companies that rely on small-volume imports (see 1904260021). The 9013.80.90 goods were tariffed at 15 percent when the List 4A duties took effect Sept. 1.

The U.S. technology industry is concerned about effects of an information and communications technology and services supply chain executive order released earlier this year, said John Miller, Information Technology Industry Council senior vice president-policy. Companies are nervous about potential restrictions that may arise from the order, which required the Commerce Department to issue regulations barring certain ICT-related transactions within 150 days. The regulations’ due date was in October, but none has been issued. “There’s been understandably a high degree of anxiety regarding what these rules may look like when they come out,” Miller told a Washington International Trade Association event. The order was broader than his industry expected, he said Wednesday, causing some to fear the order’s scope could impact a wide range of technologies and goods. “It potentially impacts all ICT products and services -- full stop,” Miller said. “Not just telecommunication networks.” This could lead to impacts on a broad range of transactions and significantly affect trade, Miller said. “It names acquisition, importations, transfer, installation, dealing in or use of ICT products and services,” he said. “It’s a pretty wide scope of potential companies that are impacted.” Friday, the White House didn't comment.