The three rounds of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs imposed since July on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods are costing the tech industry more than $1 billion a month in added fees, reported CTA Friday. CTA released its estimates as the Trump administration officially delayed to March 2 its plan to raise the third tranche of 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent.

The new photomask factory that Photronics just opened in Hefei, China, is “designed to capitalize” on the industry’s migration to larger and larger TV screen sizes and the move to 8K, said CEO Peter Kirlin on a quarterly earnings call Wednesday. Two Gen 10.5 panel fabs optimized for 65- and 75-inch LCD TVs are “ramping” in China, “with three more fabs under construction,” said Kirlin. The U.S.-China trade war is the big unknown in keeping supply-chain costs down, he said. “Every day, a new piece of significant news seems to appear that more often than not demonstrates that the tension between the two governments remains high and the ultimate outcome of trade discussions is uncertain,” he said. “There have been many surprises so far and there are most certainly more to come. Short-term, these actions can go either way as far as our business is concerned.” The “direct impact to Photronics” of the Section 301 tariffs imposed so far “has been minimal and not material to our results,” he said. “In the long run, I believe this tension will motivate more, not less semiconductor content to be manufactured in China, and without a doubt, more chips and displays equates to more demand for photomasks,” especially for China-based manufacturers, he said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will officially suspend the planned increase in Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth goods from China that had been set for Jan. 1, the agency said in a notice. That notice said the third tranche of the tariffs will remain at 10 percent for the time being and won't increase to 25 percent until March 2. The delay follows a recent deal reached by the U.S. and China to begin negotiations toward a resolution of the ongoing trade dispute.

GoPro will move most of its U.S.-bound action-camera production out of China by summer as a hedge against the products’ exposure on “any new” Section 301 tariffs list, said the company Tuesday. GoPro escaped tariffs through the three rounds of duties imposed between July and September, but it's taking no chances on a fourth round, it said. “Today's geopolitical business environment requires agility, and we're proactively addressing tariff concerns” with the move, said Chief Financial Officer Brian McGee. “This diversified approach to production can benefit our business regardless of tariff implications.” McGee spoke on a quarterly earnings call in early November of GoPro preparations to move production out of China if it became “necessary.” President Donald Trump threatened Sept. 17 to "immediately pursue" a fourth tranche of tariffs on $267 billion worth of additional imports if China retaliated for the duties that took effect Sept. 24. China did retaliate, but Trump never acted on the threat. GoPro didn’t comment Tuesday on where it’s moving U.S.-bound production, but said production for markets outside the U.S. would stay in China.

GoPro will move most of its U.S.-bound action-camera production out of China by summer as a hedge against its products’ exposure on “any new” Section 301 tariffs list, the company said on Dec. 11. GoPro escaped tariffs through the three rounds of duties imposed between July and September. “Today's geopolitical business environment requires agility, and we're proactively addressing tariff concerns” with the move, Chief Financial Officer Brian McGee said. “This diversified approach to production can benefit our business regardless of tariff implications.” McGee spoke on a quarterly earnings call in early November of GoPro preparations to move production out of China if “necessary.” President Donald Trump threatened Sept. 17 to "immediately pursue" a fourth tranche of tariffs on $267 billion worth of additional imports if China retaliated for the duties that took effect Sept. 24. China did retaliate, but Trump never acted. GoPro didn’t comment on where it’s moving production to.

Cable modems that include Chinese parts but are assembled in Mexico are subject to the third tranche of 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said Customs and Border Protection in a Nov. 27 ruling. The ruling request was submitted by Barnes Richardson lawyer Lawrence Friedman on behalf of Zoom Telephonics. CBP's analysis was on two types of modems -- those that include Wi-Fi gateways and those that don’t. All the components involved are products of China and "bulk-packed board assemblies will be shipped in separate boxes from the remainder of the components including the case components, feet, screws, and labels," CBP said. The assembly work done in Mexico doesn't constitute a "substantial transformation" of the Chinese components, CBP said. The modems are classifiable under subheading 8517.62.0010 and therefore subject to the tariffs imposed Sept. 24, it said. The modems meet the North American Free Trade Agreement’s tariff shift requirement and are a product of Mexico for marking purposes, CBP said.

There's been some significant growth in imports of products eligible for Generalized System of Preferences benefits in recent months, the Coalition for GSP said in a blog post. The coalition, which advocates for keeping the GSP program in place and is run by a consultancy called Trade Partnership Worldwide, said October set another record for GSP imports. The GSP benefits in October saved U.S. companies $105 million, an increase of $12 million, or 13 percent, over the previous record set in August, the group said.

Cable modems that include Chinese parts but are assembled in Mexico are subject to the third tranche of 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said Customs and Border Protection in a Nov. 27 ruling. The ruling request was submitted by Barnes Richardson lawyer Lawrence Friedman on behalf of Zoom Telephonics. CBP's analysis was on two types of modems -- those that include Wi-Fi gateways and those that don’t. All the components involved are products of China and "bulk-packed board assemblies will be shipped in separate boxes from the remainder of the components including the case components, feet, screws, and labels," CBP said. The assembly work done in Mexico doesn't constitute a "substantial transformation" of the Chinese components, CBP said. The modems are classifiable under subheading 8517.62.0010 and therefore subject to the tariffs imposed Sept. 24, it said. The modems meet the North American Free Trade Agreement’s tariff shift requirement and are a product of Mexico for marking purposes, CBP said.

Cable modems that include Chinese parts but are assembled in Mexico are subject to the third tranche of 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said Customs and Border Protection in a Nov. 27 ruling. The ruling request was submitted by Barnes Richardson lawyer Lawrence Friedman on behalf of Zoom Telephonics. CBP's analysis was on two types of modems -- those that include Wi-Fi gateways and those that don’t. All the components involved are products of China and "bulk-packed board assemblies will be shipped in separate boxes from the remainder of the components including the case components, feet, screws, and labels," CBP said. The assembly work done in Mexico doesn't constitute a "substantial transformation" of the Chinese components, CBP said. The modems are classifiable under subheading 8517.62.0010 and therefore subject to the tariffs imposed Sept. 24, it said. The modems meet the North American Free Trade Agreement’s tariff shift requirement and are a product of Mexico for marking purposes, CBP said.

October imports at major U.S. retail ports exceeded 2 million containers in a single month for the first time as retailers continued to rush merchandise into the country ahead of the now-postponed Jan.1 increase in Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, said the National Retail Federation Friday. President Donald Trump “declared a temporary truce in the trade war” when he put a 90-day hold on hiking the 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent (see 1812030002), but “these imports came in before that announcement was made,” said NRF. “We hope that the temporary stand-down becomes permanent, but in the meantime there has been a rush to bring merchandise in before existing tariffs go up or new ones can be imposed.” U.S. ports handled 2.04 million 20-foot containers or their equivalents in October, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available, said NRF. That was up 9 percent from September and up 13.6 percent year-over-year, it said. The previous single-month record, 1.9 million containers, was set in July, it said. NRF estimates ports handled 2.01 million containers in November, a 14 percent year-over-year increase. It forecasts 21.8 million containers will be handled in 2018, a 6.5 percent increase from the record 20.5 million handled in 2017. It sees a “significant slowdown” in 2019 import growth “as the market adjusts to higher prices due to the Trump tariffs and the impact on consumer and industry confidence going forward.”