International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 23-27 in case they were missed.

The next few months include a "rapid-fire succession of trade and tech war deadlines" that poses a high level of uncertainty for the fight between the U.S. and China, Bank of America economists Ethan Harris and Alexander Lin said in a Sept. 30 research report. Of those deadlines, what happens with Huawei's temporary general license is likely the most important unknown, they said. Huawei on Nov. 17 will be cut off from all U.S. exports, but "we expect an 'extend and pretend' scenario where Huawei remains on the 'entity list' but is allowed to keep buying US inputs."

Football fans will “need to be aware” this fall that Section 301 tariffs ranging from 15 percent to 30 percent on Chinese goods “will drive up the price of everything from footballs and TVs to portable grills and fanwear,” the National Retail Federation blogged on Sept. 30. “Fans who prefer to watch the game from the comfort of their couch won’t be spared,” NRF said. Overall, “Americans would pay $711 million more than they otherwise would for ... [televisions] hit with 25 percent tariffs,” it said, citing a Trade Partnership report it commissioned in June. Tariffs of 15 percent took effect Sept. 1 on finished TVs from China, among other goods on List 4A. “Think of these tariffs as 15- to 30-yard penalties between you and the goal of a fun weekend afternoon with your favorite team,” NRF said. “As you take a break during halftime, take a moment to tell Congress to end the trade war and remove all tariffs.”

Revenue declined 23 percent in Micron Technology’s fiscal 2019 ended Aug. 29, but senior executives on a fiscal Q4 call Thursday wouldn’t break out how much of the decrease was attributable to the disruption in shipments to Huawei. Revenue in Q4 was down 42 percent from a year earlier, but up 2 percent sequentially, exceeding Micron’s previous guidance on better-than-expected demand in the quarter, said the company. “In recent months, we have seen increased demand from customers headquartered in mainland China,” said CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. Some customers “could be making strategic decisions to build higher levels of inventory in the face of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” he said. The components Micron sells have heavy exposure in the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump announced in August he would hike those tariffs in October (see 1908230006). Micron, “with continued mitigation,” was able to limit the tariffs’ impact on Q4's consolidated gross margin to fewer than 20 basis points, said Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner. Micron resumed shipping “some products” to Huawei in Q3 that were “not subject” to the Trump administration’s export restrictions, said Mehrotra. Sales to Huawei in Q4 declined sequentially and “were down meaningfully from the levels we anticipated” before the Commerce Department put Huawei on the entity list, he said. Micron applied to Commerce for licenses “that would allow us to ship additional products, but there have been no decisions on licenses to date,” he said. “If the entity list restrictions against Huawei continue and we are unable to get licenses, we could see a worsening decline in our sales to Huawei over the coming quarters.” The stock plunged 11 percent Friday to $43.21.

Revenue declined 23 percent in Micron Technology’s fiscal year 2019 ended Aug. 29, but senior executives on a fiscal Q4 call Sept. 26 wouldn’t break out how much of the decrease was attributable to the disruption in shipments to Huawei. Revenue in Q4 was down 42 percent from a year earlier, but up 2 percent sequentially, exceeding Micron’s previous guidance on better-than-expected demand in the quarter, the company said. “In recent months, we have seen increased demand from customers headquartered in mainland China,” CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said. Some customers “could be making strategic decisions to build higher levels of inventory in the face of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” he said. The components Micron sells have heavy exposure in the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump announced in August he would hike those tariffs Oct. 1.

Revenue declined 23 percent in Micron Technology’s fiscal 2019 ended Aug. 29, but senior executives on a fiscal Q4 call Thursday wouldn’t break out how much of the decrease was attributable to the disruption in shipments to Huawei. Revenue in Q4 was down 42 percent from a year earlier, but up 2 percent sequentially, exceeding Micron’s previous guidance on better-than-expected demand in the quarter, said the company. “In recent months, we have seen increased demand from customers headquartered in mainland China,” said CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. Some customers “could be making strategic decisions to build higher levels of inventory in the face of increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China,” he said. The components Micron sells have heavy exposure in the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump announced in August he would hike those tariffs in October (see 1908230006). Micron, “with continued mitigation,” was able to limit the tariffs’ impact on Q4's consolidated gross margin to fewer than 20 basis points, said Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner. Micron resumed shipping “some products” to Huawei in Q3 that were “not subject” to the Trump administration’s export restrictions, said Mehrotra. Sales to Huawei in Q4 declined sequentially and “were down meaningfully from the levels we anticipated” before the Commerce Department put Huawei on the entity list, he said. Micron applied to Commerce for licenses “that would allow us to ship additional products, but there have been no decisions on licenses to date,” he said. “If the entity list restrictions against Huawei continue and we are unable to get licenses, we could see a worsening decline in our sales to Huawei over the coming quarters.” The stock plunged 11 percent Friday to $43.21.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP added the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the second tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Sept. 29, it said in a CSMS messages. For the second tranche exclusions, filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1909180004) should report the regular Chapters 39, 73, 76, 84, 85, 86, 87 and 90 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.17. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when" subheading 9903.88.17 is submitted, CBP said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is publishing two new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China (see 1909300009). The product exclusions apply retroactively to when each tranche initially took effect. That was July 6, 2018, for the first tranche, and Aug. 23, 2018, for the second tranche.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued two new sets of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the first two lists of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions from the first tranche include "92 specially prepared product descriptions" and cover 129 separate requests, according to the notice. The second tranche exclusions include 111 product descriptions and covers 382 requests, the agency said.