Congress needs to “instruct” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to bring a World Trade Organization case for violating WTO rules against unfair trade practices, testified Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Rob Atkinson Wednesday before the House IT Oversight Subcommittee. Congress should “take a hard line on limiting most Chinese investment” in the U.S., including in Chinese-backed “tech accelerators,” said Atkinson. He urged limiting “ongoing science and technology cooperation” with China, "especially considering that much of that cooperation is lopsided,” he said. The Trump administration placed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs “on a wide array of Chinese exports in an effort to bring the Chinese government to the negotiating table,” said Atkinson. “It is not clear if this approach will succeed.” The “most important step” the U.S. can take is develop a “joint campaign with our allies” to curb bad Chinese behavior, he said, to make "it more likely that China feels like it has no choice but to play more by the rules.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is amending the list of goods from China newly subject to 10 percent Section 301 tariffs to remove frozen salmon and make conforming changes to subheadings covering wood. Effective Sept. 24, USTR is removing from the list subheadings 0304.81.10 and 0304.81.50, which cover frozen salmon, in order “to account fully for the extensive public comments and testimony previously provided” in the Section 301 investigation.
The FCC approved a declaratory ruling and order designed to speed the deployment of small cells and 5G across the U.S. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, whose vote had been in doubt (see 1809200007), partially dissented and partially concurred Wednesday.
The FCC approved a declaratory ruling and order designed to speed the deployment of small cells and 5G across the U.S. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, whose vote had been in doubt (see 1809200007), partially dissented and partially concurred Wednesday.
The Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports that took effect Monday (see 1809240011) will cause “sticker shock” for consumers and harm small businesses, the owner of an independent electronics and appliance store told a free-trade event in Washington Tuesday. “We couldn’t be more discouraged by this ongoing trade war and what it means for our family owned company that has been in business for more than 70 years,” said Ron Romero, owner of Schaefer’s TV and Appliance in Lincoln, Nebraska, according to the National Retail Federation, which organized the Trade Builds America forum with several other groups. “We were only given a week’s notice in some cases to prepare for this latest tariff onslaught that couldn’t have come at a worse time as we approach the holiday shopping season,” NRF quoted Romero as saying. Most of the appliances Romero sells “are assembled by domestic manufacturers but rely on imported components that are being hit by tariffs,” he said. “It simply doesn’t make sense why Washington is making it more expensive to produce goods here in the United States. That will only mean higher costs for American families and small businesses like mine.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept.17-21 in case they were missed.
As Section 301 tariffs took effect Monday on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, including duties the tech industry fought unsuccessfully to defeat on printed circuit assemblies, networking equipment and other goods, CTA fell silent about what it might do about the duties that it said a week ago “run afoul” of the 1974 Trade Act (see 1809180020). With China retaliating Monday with tariffs of its own on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, observers were watching to see if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to “immediately pursue” a fourth tranche of tariffs on $267 billion worth of additional Chinese imports as a countermeasure.
Two U.S. manufacturers seek the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum wire and cable from China, they said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission Sept. 21. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers.
Customs brokers this week will be lobbying congressional leaders to press the Department of the Treasury and CBP to change the proposed rule that excludes excise taxes from drawback, and will be asking members to co-sponsor the Customs Business Fairness Act (see 1712180053). The act, H.R. 4657, would change bankruptcy law so that customs brokers are not subject to clawback on duties advanced to CBP after a client declares bankruptcy.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1815 on Sept. 21, containing 1,230 Automated Broker Interface records and 306 harmonized tariff records, it said in a CSMS message. This update includes modifications related to the imposition of the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on China (see 1809210026), as well as changes to Chapter 63 related to a new subheading for bed nets. The update also includes some updates related to the enactment of H.R. 4318, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018 (see 1809140004). "Please be aware that only a portion of the records have been added thus far, and have been included in this update. This effort is ongoing and will continue until all changes have been completed," CBP said. The MTB changes are effective Oct. 13.