A coalition of U.S. manufacturers seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on glass containers from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission Sept. 24. 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.

Total U.S. shipments of “personal devices,” including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, will rise at only 0.2 percent compound annual growth rate the next few years, reaching 278.6 million units in 2023, reported the Daniel Research Group Tuesday. “Standard” phones will have the biggest CAGR decline through 2023 at 34.8 percent, while smartphones increase at a 1.8 percent CAGR through the period, it said. Total tablets will have an 8.2 percent CAGR decline, it said. The forecasts assume no U.S. recession and that Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods increase prices by 10 to 25 percent, depending on the product, it said.

Supply-chain services provider Jabil is experiencing “no big material impacts” from the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs, though it recently decided to funnel much of its new capital expenditures on factory expansion outside China, said CEO Mark Mondello on a fiscal Q4 call Tuesday. “There continues to be a deep-rooted supply chain in China,” despite the administration’s efforts to convince U.S. importers to shift production elsewhere, he said.

Total tariffs paid on tech imports from China increased from $383 million in 2017 to $1.9 billion in 2018, “a fivefold increase since Section 301 tariffs were first levied,” said CompTIA. “Should a 30 percent tariff rate apply to all tech product imports from China for the remainder of 2019, the cost could run into the tens of billions of dollars.” Comments were due Friday on the proposed increase. There’s “no doubt” tariffs will create “irreparable harm to America’s technology companies, the 11.8 million Americans who work in tech occupations, and consumers who rely on affordable technology in their daily lives,” said CompTIA. The proposed increase to 30 percent “will decrease the competitiveness of CompTIA member companies’ products by making U.S.-manufactured technology products more expensive relative to foreign-made competing products,” it said. It’s “economically unfeasible” for tech companies “to incur these additional costs without passing along some costs via price increases” to businesses and consumers, it said. Tariffs “are not the solution” for securing “meaningful commitments from China to change their trade practices,” said TechNet. “They have inflicted harm on U.S. workers, consumers, and businesses of all sizes. Increasing tariffs from 25 percent to 30 percent for tranches one, two, and three would be a mistake.” China “must be confronted about its unfair trade practices, but increasing tariffs will further harm the long-term health of the U.S. economy,” said TechNet. “We hope that upcoming negotiations between the U.S. and China will lead to real progress.” The U.S. and the Chinese should “work strenuously to resolve this situation and end the tariffs,” it said. “We urge the Trump Administration not to escalate this trade war by moving ahead with its proposed increase.” — Paul Gluckman

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 16-20 in case they were missed.

The Commerce Department posted an updated version of its "China's 301 Retaliation Product Scope" that lists U.S. goods that are included in China's retaliatory tariffs. The updated list includes Chinese tariff increases that took effect Sept. 1.

Mobile communications, smart technology and audio products headlined Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular Thursday in New York, as manufacturers geared up for the Q4 selling season.

The CBP Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise is overseeing a huge increase in the number of Post Summary Correction requests for retroactive application of Section 232 exclusions, agency officials recently told the American Institute for International Steel. "The Base Metals Center PSC workload has increased approximately 1500% from pre Section 232," AIIS said. As a result of that volume, "[w]hen exclusions are claimed retroactively by PSC, some time may be required to process," the trade group said.

American producers are footing a $7.6 billion annual bill from the three existing rounds of 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, “making it more expensive and less competitive to manufacture in the United States,” commented the National Association of Manufacturers in docket USTR-2019-0015. Hiking the tariffs to 30 percent, as the Trump administration is proposing for Oct. 15 (see 1909120002), “will further impact a wide variety of manufacturers already grappling with the operational costs and business uncertainty resulting from the original 25 percent tariffs on these lists,” said NAM. Comments were due Friday on the proposed increase.

Mobile communications, smart technology and audio products headlined Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular Thursday in New York, as manufacturers geared up for the Q4 selling season.