Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6, released for sale Friday and marked on the packaging as a product of Vietnam, typifies the growing volume of Vietnamese-sourced tablets and laptops imported to the U.S. under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8471.30.01 subheading. Though the overwhelming majority of those goods continue to originate from China, Vietnam is emerging as a more important country of origin, said Census Bureau trade data accessed Monday through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6, released for sale on Sept. 6 and marked on the packaging as a product of Vietnam, typifies the growing volume of Vietnamese-sourced tablets and laptops imported to the U.S. under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8471.30.01. Though the overwhelming majority of those goods continue to originate from China, Vietnam is emerging as a more important country of origin, according to Census Bureau trade data accessed through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool.

The fourth list of Section 301 tariffs that was split into two subgroups, 4A and 4B, includes many very similar items that will require some specificity for differentiating between them, the Atlanta International Forwarders and Brokers Association said in a blog post. Fifteen percent tariffs on the 4A group of products took effect on Sept. 1, while the 15 percent tariffs on the 4B items start on Dec. 15. The differing effective dates are hoped to reduce the holiday season impacts (see 1908130033).

Wendy Cutler, former acting deputy U.S. trade representative, says that the first bucket of Section 301 tariffs, the ones tailored to Made in China 2025, worked. Even though Cutler is generally not a fan of tariffs, she said, "I think those succeeded … in getting China to negotiate in earnest."

Walmart Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Bratspies is “really proud” of how his team mitigated the cost impact of the Lists 1, 2 and 3 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, he told a Barclays investor conference Wednesday. List 4, which covers virtually all Chinese-sourced goods not previously tariffed, “makes it tougher” to manage, “there's no doubt about that,” said Bratspies. With the previous three tariff rounds, “there were a few prices” that Walmart had to raise, “but we didn't see any change in our unit projection of where we thought it would be, so that was absorbed,” he said. “We were very focused and targeted on how we did it. We didn't let any of our price gaps slip and we maintained price leadership.” Though List 4 “gets tougher” to do that, Walmart plans “the same approach that we took to List 3, which is we literally go through item by item,” said Bratspies. “That's what our buyers do.” There's “a whole bunch of different levers that a buyer can pull to understand how to manage that,” he said. The goal is to “offset as much as we possibly can either through negotiation" with vendors or by "managing mix,” he said. Even if the company needs to raise prices as a “last resort” to maintain margins, “we're going to run the Walmart model, which is we want to lead on price,” he said. The retailer slightly scaled back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth last month, factoring in the impact of the List 4 tariffs when they were still at 10 percent (see 1908150005).

Walmart Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Bratspies was “really proud” how his team mitigated the cost impact of the Lists 1, 2 and 3 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, he told a Barclays investor conference Sept. 4. List 4, which covers virtually all China-sourced goods not previously tariffed, “makes it tougher” to manage, Bratspies said. “There's no doubt about that.” With the previous three tariff rounds, “there were a few prices” that Walmart did have to raise, “but we didn't see any change in our unit projection of where we thought it would be, so that was absorbed,” he said. “We were very focused and targeted on how we did it. We didn't let any of our price gaps slip, and we maintained price leadership.” Though List 4 “gets tougher,” Walmart plans “the same approach that we took to List 3, which is we literally go through item by item,” Bratspies said. “That's what our buyers do.” There's “a whole bunch of different levers that a buyer can pull to understand how to manage that,” he said. The goal is to “offset as much as we possibly can either through negotiation or managing mix,” he said. Even if Walmart needs to raise prices as a “last resort” to maintain margins where they need to be, “we're going to run the Walmart model, which is we want to lead on price,” he said. Walmart last month slightly scaled back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, factoring in the impact of the List 4 tariffs when they were still at 10 percent (see 1908150049).

Wendy Cutler, former acting deputy U.S. trade representative, says that the first bucket of Section 301 tariffs, the ones tailored to Made in China 2025, worked. Even though Cutler is generally not a fan of tariffs, she said, "I think those succeeded … in getting China to negotiate in earnest."

Roku extended its speaker line Wednesday to a sound bar and subwoofer due to ship next month. It began taking preorders Wednesday at Roku.com for both products, each with a $179 MSRP. They will be available at Best Buy next month.

The International Trade Commission recently released Revision 12 to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Changes in the latest version relate entirely to the imposition of 15 percent Section 301 tariffs on products from China, effective Sept. 1. New U.S. Note 20(r) and U.S. Note 20(s) are added to subchapter III of chapter 99 describing the applicable tariff treatment and HTS subheadings covered by the new tariffs, respectively. New subheading 9903.88.15 is added for goods subject to the new List 4 tariffs.

As the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs took effect Sunday on $52 billion worth of TVs, Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches and other Chinese-sourced consumer tech goods, CTA renewed its call for congressional legislation to rein in presidential authority to wage tariff actions. The U.S. president “does not have unilateral authority on trade,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro.