International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 24-28 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Goods from the United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Austria and India will face new 25% Section 301 tariffs in response to digital services taxes if negotiations don't produce a resolution, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a June 2 news release. The tariffs are suspended for up to 180 days, as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development continues to negotiate international tax agreements.

Every country in the current round of retaliatory tariffs over digital services taxes will have fewer products targeted if negotiations fail to reach a solution, according to detailed lists released for the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India and Austria. In all cases, as with an earlier list for France, no duties will be collected as negotiations continue. The announcement, made June 2, allows for up to 180 days before a decision has to be made on whether to hike tariffs on these goods by 25%. "Today’s actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a press release.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted a list of frequently asked questions to raise importers' guard against Section 301 investigation scams. Though someone from USTR may need to contact importers for "official business," the agency will never demand "immediate payment" from the public. it said. "Be on the lookout for someone promising a benefit in exchange for personal information or money." Other "red flags" to watch for include emails purporting to come from USTR but bearing addresses not from a government agency. It urged anyone suspecting Section 301 fraud to file a complaint with the FTC. USTR didn't respond to a request for comment.

An amendment that will allow expanded information sharing from CBP on counterfeits, and which will renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, will be part of the China package expected to pass the week of June 8. The amendment, sponsored by Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, was modified slightly from its first introduction, when it failed to pass the filibuster threshold of 60 votes. This version, which passed with 91 votes on May 27, no longer expands a forced labor initiative on seafood to all seafood products.

Few details were released by either side about Wednesday’s virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He. Their “introductory” caucus featured a “candid exchange” about the Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy and Tai’s “ongoing review of the U.S.-China trade relationship, while also raising issues of concern,” said a USTR agency readout. The U.S. and China “engaged in candid, pragmatic and constructive communication with an attitude of equality and mutual respect,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday. “Believing that bilateral trade is of great significance, the two sides exchanged views on issues of common concern, and agreed to keep in contact,” he said. Tai’s agency is running a “top-to-bottom review” of U.S. trade and economic policy toward China, including the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, with no “timeline” for its completion, she told a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week (see 2105140023).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted a list of frequently asked questions on what the USTR doesn't do related to its Section 301 investigations. In issuing fraud alert information, the agency said it doesn't “collect money from the public” and while it may contact individuals as part of an investigation, USTR won't “demand immediate payment.” Other red flags include contact through text message or social media and the use of email addresses not from a government agency, it said. The agency didn't respond to a request for comment.

Importers filed a daily average of 1.25 new Section 301 cases in the 20 business days since Chief Judge Mark Barnett of the U.S. Court of International Trade signed his April 28 administrative order automatically staying any new complaints without assigning them to the three-judge panel he shares with Judges Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves (see 2104290002). Court records show that’s slightly fewer than the 1.45 daily average of cases filed in the 20 days before Barnett’s order, all of which were also stayed but assigned to the panel. There’s no evidence suggesting Barnett’s order is reducing the influx of new Section 301 challenges, nor was that his intent. His rationale, he told an April 26 status conference, was his worry that a future case would create a "conflict" forcing the recusal of one or more of the judges. There’s word that the court took elaborate precautions to avoid possible conflicts, contributing to the five-month delay between the Sept. 10 filing of the first complaint and the Feb. 5 order assigning the massive litigation to the three-judge panel (see 2102050038). Judges’ stock ownership in companies with cases coming before them is a common worry. Lawyers filing complaints before the court need to submit the proper disclosure forms to help the chief judge weed out possible conflicts before assigning cases.

Few details were released by either side about the May 26 virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He. Their “introductory” caucus featured a “candid exchange” about the Biden-Harris administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy and Tai’s “ongoing review of the U.S.-China trade relationship, while also raising issues of concern,” a USTR readout said. The U.S. and China "engaged in candid, pragmatic and constructive communication with an attitude of equality and mutual respect,” a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said May 27 at a press conference. “Believing that bilateral trade is of great significance, the two sides exchanged views on issues of common concern, and agreed to keep in contact,” he said. Tai’s agency is running a “top-to-bottom review” of U.S. trade and economic policy toward China, including the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, with no “timeline” for its completion, she told a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week (see 2105130060).