Cable modems that are made up of Chinese parts but assembled in Mexico are subject to the 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, CBP said in a Nov. 27 ruling. The ruling request was submitted by Barnes Richardson lawyer Lawrence Friedman on behalf of Zoom Telephonics. CBP's analysis is on two types of modems, one type that includes a Wi-Fi gateway and one that does not. The modems are Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1 and compatible with several major cable systems, including Comcast and Cox, it said.

Importers paid more than $6 billion total in tariffs in October, the first full month that there were additional tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, according to an analysis from Tariffs Hurt the Heartland. The group said that amount -- which is $3.1 billion more than was paid in October 2017 -- has not slowed imports on the tariffed goods, but has drastically cut exports that are subject to retaliatory tariffs. The group is funded in part by farm interests, who have been particularly hard-hit by retaliation. Their Dec. 7 release said that imports subject to new tariffs declined 0.6 percent in October, while exports targeted for retaliation fell 37 percent. About two-thirds of the increase is for Section 301 tariffs, while steel and aluminum tariffs cost an additional $446 million. The goods on the Section 301 list would have cost $394 million in tariffs before the action; in October, tariffs on those imports were $2.6 billion. CBP recently said it has assessed more than $10 billion under the recent Trump administration Section 201, 232 and 301 trade remedies (see 1811260010).

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, the National Retail Federation said. 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, but “these imports came in before that announcement was made,” NRF said. “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, NRF said. 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.”

Increased material costs was the top cost pressure for 20 percent of CEOs surveyed by the Business Roundtable, and that group's leader said tariffs are the reason why. Only labor costs was mentioned by more CEOs. Business Roundtable CEO Josh Bolten said that while the survey, released Dec. 7, didn't ask which set of tariffs is the problem, he's hearing from companies that metals tariffs are a bigger burden than the Section 301 tariffs. That's because a relatively small amount of production uses inputs from lists one and two of Chinese imports, and steel is used in many sectors. "The ones that have gotten the biggest public attention are the auto manufacturers," he said, "but really it's across the membership."

A withdrawal of the U.S. from NAFTA by President Donald Trump could help push the new NAFTA through Congress, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who will take over the Senate Finance Committee next year. Grassley, who was speaking on an agriculture radio program on Dec. 3, also praised the president's approach to trade more broadly.

"I am a Tariff Man," tweeted President Donald Trump Tuesday, three days after postponing hiking to 25 percent the third round of Section 301 duties, giving U.S. and Chinese negotiators 90 days to work out a comprehensive trade deal (see 1812030002). "When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so," tweeted Trump. "It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN." Negotiations with China "have already started," he tweeted. "Unless extended, they will end 90 days from the date of our wonderful and very warm dinner with President Xi in Argentina," he said about Chinese President Xi Jinping.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 26-30 in case they were missed.

Tech groups generally hailed Saturday’s White House announcement that the Trump administration won’t raise the third tranche of 10 percent Section 301 tariffs to 25 percent as planned Jan. 1, giving U.S. and Chinese negotiators 90 days to work out a comprehensive deal to curb China’s allegedly unfair trade practices. Some groups complained that left buried under the positive headlines President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping generated at the G-20 summit was that three rounds of 10-25 percent tariffs imposed since early July will remain in force indefinitely.

A 90-day pause in implementing increased Section 301 tariffs will run from Dec. 1, the White House said as it corrected the record the evening of Dec. 3. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow had erroneously said that the 90-day delay in increasing tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports would start Jan. 1. That was the day that tariffs were scheduled to rise from an additional 10 percent on the base rate to 25 percent. Jennifer Hillman, a Georgetown Law professor and former general counsel at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, tweeted that the Federal Register will have to be updated to reflect the new deadline, which should fall around March 1.

Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports topped the lists of supply-chain “headwinds” that Dell Technologies and HP encountered in their most recent quarters, said executives with both companies on separate earnings calls Thursday.