The announcement of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal that included halving List 4A tariffs in place since Sept. 1 could do little to change damage done to small audio companies smacked by the previous three tranches of tariffs still in place, they said. Executives said in interviews this month have been hit hard by the duties with little hope other than to wait them out.

Richard O'Neill was named partner at Neville Peterson, where he was previously an associate attorney, the law firm said in an emailed news release. O'Neill's work is focused on “all aspects of international trade and Customs law, including tariff classification, appraisement, country of origin and trade preference programs, Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs, Free Trade Agreements, export controls and trade remedies,” the firm said.

A group of domestic manufacturers filed petitions on Dec. 18 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duty investigations on fluid end bocks from Germany, India and Italy, and new countervailing duties on the same product from China, Germany, India and Italy. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on fluid end blocks that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by the FEB Fair Trade Coalition, the Ellwood Group, and Finkl Steel.

Section 301 List 4A tariff exclusion requests topped 1,000 Thursday, 49 days after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened the public docket to applications on Halloween. Applicants that are granted exclusions can qualify for refunds of the 15 percent tariffs they paid retroactive to Sept. 1 when the duties took effect. List 4A tariffs remain in effect at 15 percent but are expected to be rolled back by half after the U.S-China phase one trade deal is signed in January. Under USTR rules, tariff exemptions are granted on all goods imported under a product classification, not just to the company making the exclusion request. Nine applications were filed through Thursday to exempt goods imported under the 8517.62.00.90 tariff subheading, more than for any consumer tech product with List 4A exposure. The subheading includes a broad range of consumer tech goods, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers and smartwatches. Virtually all List 4A exclusion requests filed by all companies through Nov. 29 were elevated to the status of a “stage 2 initial substantive review,” the docket shows. The final “stage 4" is when an exclusion request is granted and approved for Federal Register publication. None of the List 4A applications filed since Oct. 31 progressed above stage 2.

Section 301 List 4A tariff exclusion requests topped 1,000 Thursday, 49 days after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened the public docket to applications on Halloween. Applicants that are granted exclusions can qualify for refunds of the 15 percent tariffs they paid retroactive to Sept. 1 when the duties took effect. List 4A tariffs remain in effect at 15 percent but are expected to be rolled back by half after the U.S-China phase one trade deal is signed in January. Under USTR rules, tariff exemptions are granted on all goods imported under a product classification, not just to the company making the exclusion request. Nine applications were filed through Thursday to exempt goods imported under the 8517.62.00.90 tariff subheading, more than for any consumer tech product with List 4A exposure. The subheading includes a broad range of consumer tech goods, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers and smartwatches. Virtually all List 4A exclusion requests filed by all companies through Nov. 29 were elevated to the status of a “stage 2 initial substantive review,” the docket shows. The final “stage 4" is when an exclusion request is granted and approved for Federal Register publication. None of the List 4A applications filed since Oct. 31 progressed above stage 2.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will ask for comments on whether the second set of tariff exclusions on Chinese imports on Section 301 List 1, set to expire March 25, should last another year, it said in a pre-publication notice on its website. The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions in docket number USTR-2019-0024 on Jan. 15. The comments are due by Feb. 15, it said. The USTR recently granted extensions to six exclusions, while letting 25 expire, from the first group of exclusions (see 1912190060).

The volume of Section 301 List 4A tariff exclusion requests surpassed 1,000 on Dec. 19, 49 days after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened the public docket to applications at noon on Halloween. Applicants that are granted exclusions can qualify for refunds of 15 percent tariffs retroactive to Sept. 1, when the duties took effect. List 4A tariffs remain in effect at 15 percent, but are expected to be rolled back by half after the U.S.-China phase one trade deal is signed sometime in January 2020. Under USTR rules, tariff exemptions are granted on all goods imported under a product classification, not just to the company making the exclusion request. Nine applications were filed through Dec. 19 to exempt goods imported under subheading 8517.62.00.90, more than for any consumer tech product with List 4A exposure. The subheading includes a broad swath of consumer tech goods, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers and smartwatches. Virtually all List 4A exclusion requests filed by all companies through Nov. 29 were elevated to the status of a “stage 2 initial substantive review,” the docket shows. The final “stage 4” is when an exclusion request is granted and approved for publication in the Federal Register.

CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1920 on Dec. 19, containing 40,715 Automated Broker Interface records and 7,393 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes recently announced exclusions and other changes related to the Section 301 tariffs (see 1912060031 and 1912130028). Other changes involve units of quantities and the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S.

CBP added on Dec. 19 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1912130028) should report the regular Chapters 03, 08, 21, 48, 54, 56, 73, 76, 83, 84, 85, 87 and 94, CBP said in the message. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when” subheading 9903.88.36 is submitted, CBP said.

Sonos can’t move production outside China “in any reasonable or efficient manner” of the wireless mesh network speakers for which it’s seeking an exclusion from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs, posted the vendor Wednesday in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative public docket. Sonos estimates it would cost more than $15 million and take about two years to find alternative sourcing in a third country to “ensure that quality and sourcing standards are met,” it said. There's “no other single market in the world” besides China “where all of the components and expertise required to produce our wireless home audio systems can be obtained at the scale necessary to support consumer demand for our products,” said Sonos. “Fragmenting our supply chain across several countries is inefficient and prevents achieving economies of scale. Shifting production out of China would require us to recreate an entirely new supply chain and global concentration in the electronics sector means that we would still need to import many of our components from China.” Finding “substitute components” or new sources of product assembly “is a complex process that takes time and a significant investment,” it said. Sonos imports the speakers under the 8517.62.00.90 heading covering a broad swatch of consumer tech products, including smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, fitness trackers and smartwatches.