The U.S. will begin collecting an additional 25 percent in tariffs on goods from China classified in 818 tariff lines starting July 6, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a June 15 announcement. That list is a revision of the USTR's proposed list (see 1804270010) and, unlike the earlier version, doesn't include any products in Chapters 29 or 30, though some products in Chapter 90 are included. Another list of proposed tariff lines the USTR is considering doesn't include any subheadings from Chapter 29, 30 or 90.
China will implement retaliatory 25 percent tariffs on 545 tariff lines, largely agricultural and auto targets, but also "aquatic products," on July 6, it said in a statement. Like the U.S., it is saving an additional $16 billion in targets in reserve. For China, those will be chemicals, energy imports and medical equipment. For the U.S., semiconductors, plastics, railcars, tractors, cranes and new industrial machinery lines could be in the second phase. China's tariffs are in response to the Section 301 tariffs on imports into the U.S. set to begin July 6 (see 1806150003)
The entire congressional delegation from Washington state sent a letter to the U.S. trade representative, asking him to negotiate a solution with countries facing Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, because retaliatory tariffs on apples, cherries, pears and potatoes will cost the state's farmers tens of millions of dollars. The letter talks about cherry sales in China, apple sales in India, China and Mexico, and notes, "With cherry harvest beginning in the Pacific Northwest, time is of the essence for our growers."
House Republicans went to bat for constituent tech companies trying to fend off Trade Act Section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on imports from China over intellectual property disputes. Seven GOP members from Texas want U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to heed “requests” of Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to remove Chinese imports of hard disk drives and solid state drives, said a May 18 letter posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0005. Ted Poe, Pete Sessions, Mac Thornberry, John Carter, Roger Williams, Lamar Smith and Bill Flores said the devices are “critical components, and major cost drivers” for the “cutting edge” servers and storage products Dell and HPE make in the U.S. Cree in the past decade invested $2.3 billion in R&D and capital expenditures in Durham, said Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., so tariffs on its LED imports from China would help non-U.S. rivals. The White House announced May 29 the USTR’s office will release its final tariffs list by Friday (see 1805290046).
House Republicans went to bat for constituent tech companies trying to fend off Trade Act Section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on imports from China over intellectual property disputes. Seven GOP members from Texas want U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to heed “requests” of Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to remove Chinese imports of hard disk drives and solid state drives, said a May 18 letter posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0005. Ted Poe, Pete Sessions, Mac Thornberry, John Carter, Roger Williams, Lamar Smith and Bill Flores said the devices are “critical components, and major cost drivers” for the “cutting edge” servers and storage products Dell and HPE make in the U.S. Cree in the past decade invested $2.3 billion in R&D and capital expenditures in Durham, said Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., so tariffs on its LED imports from China would help non-U.S. rivals. The White House announced May 29 the USTR’s office will release its final tariffs list by Friday (see 1805290046).
White House trade policy adviser Peter Navarro said the list of Chinese products that could be subject to 25 percent tariffs will be a subset of the original list of 1,300 products released in April. Whether the Section 301 tariffs come to bear against those products will be up to the president to decide, he said while speaking at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal on June 12. The administration has said the tariff list would be released this week. The proposed list of tariff subheadings targets pharmaceuticals, medical devices and optical equipment, among other products.
White House trade policy adviser Peter Navarro said the list of Chinese products that could be subject to 25 percent tariffs will be a subset of the original list of 1,300 products released in April (see 1804040019). Whether the Section 301 tariffs come to bear against those products will be up to the president to decide, he said while speaking at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal on June 12. The administration has said the tariff list would be released this week.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 4-8 in case they were missed.
Eight House Republicans, including seven from the Texas delegation, went to bat for constituent tech companies trying to fend off Trade Act Section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on imports from China, with the final tariffs list due out this week. The eighth GOP member said he wants to protect Cree from paying higher duties on the LED wafers that it makes in North Carolina, ships to China, and re-imports to the U.S. as finished, packaged chips.
Eight House Republicans, including seven from the Texas delegation, went to bat for constituent tech companies trying to fend off Trade Act Section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on imports from China, with the final tariffs list due out this week (see 1805290010). The eighth GOP member said he wants to protect one company, Cree, from paying higher duties on the LED wafers that it makes in North Carolina, ships to China, and re-imports to the U.S. as finished, packaged chips.