Comments are due Sept. 20 on the Trump administration’s proposal to hike the first three rounds of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent, from 25 percent, effective Oct. 1, says an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice Thursday for Tuesday's Federal Register. President Donald Trump tweeted last week he would hike the tariffs after China said it will impose retaliatory duties on $75 billion in U.S. goods (see 1908230006). The notice doesn't mention a public hearing on the proposed hike, and was the first time in the various tariff notice and comment periods that a specific effective date was mentioned. The three lists of tariff subheadings are unchanged from those already in effect, it says. The tariff increases won’t affect any exclusions already granted, it says. USTR wants comments to “address specifically” whether increasing the tariffs to 30 percent “would be practicable or effective to obtain the elimination” of China's allegedly unfair trade practices, it says. It also wants to know if hiking the tariffs “would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests, including small- or medium-sized businesses and consumers,” it says.

CBP has assessed about $35.9 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Aug. 28, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $27 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The assessed tariffs under Section 301 will likely start to increase quicker once the planned 15 percent tariffs take effect on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066). CBP also has assessed about $6.1 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $1.7 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells (see 1801230052), imposed Jan. 23, 2018, account for $1 billion in assessed tariffs.

China is not looking to escalate its trade war with the U.S. and wants to focus on removing tariffs, not adding them, a Chinese government spokesman said Aug. 28. “We are resolutely opposed to the escalation of the trade war and are willing to resolve the issue through consultation and cooperation in a calm attitude,” said Gao Feng, a commerce ministry spokesman, according to an unofficial translation of a press conference transcript. “The escalation of the trade war is not conducive to China, not to the United States, and is not conducive to the interests of the people of the world.”

CBP on Aug. 30 issued new filing instructions for goods subject to Section 301 duties, in light of the 15 percent tariffs set to take effect on Sept. 1. The agency’s CSMS message contains updated information on how to enter goods with subheadings on the first group of fourth tranche products, on which Section 301 duties take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066). Beginning on Sept. 1, goods included in the first group of the list must be filed under subheading 9903.88.15. Then, effective Dec. 15, tariffs take effect on a second list of goods under subheading 9903.88.16.

Best Buy trimmed full-year revenue guidance on projected impact of the List 4 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods that take effect Sunday and again Dec. 15. A more-than-expected “drag” in the videogaming cycle, plus the maturing smartphone category also weighed heavily on Best Buy's outlook, said executives on a Q2 call Thursday. Shares closed 8 percent lower Thursday at $63.47.

Almost half of companies that responded to the U.S.-China Business Council's annual survey on the business climate in China said they have lost sales in China since the trade war began. The most common reason is because of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports to China, according to these 100 multinational firms based in the U.S. Another third said they lost sales because of U.S. tariffs.

Movado Group downgraded its forecast in virtually all metrics for fiscal year 2020 ending Jan. 31, blaming market volatility it sees worsening with the 15 percent List 4A Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1 on fashion watches and smartwatches imported from China. It's “very early on in the process” to forecast with any precision the impact of the List 4A tariffs taking effect in a few days, CEO Efraim Grinberg said on a fiscal Q2 call. The tariffs will “definitely have an impact, I believe, on U.S. business,” he said. “We will take certain actions in terms of pricing initiatives, in terms of working with our suppliers,” to mitigate the fallout, he said. “Some will have an effect to gross profits.”

Protests in Hong Kong could cut off an escape route importers have been using to avoid Section 301 tariffs, according to a blog post by trade consultant David Trumbull. The 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act “gives Congress and the President, or the President alone by Executive Order, the power to suspend U.S. recognition of the separate Hong Kong Customs Territory if the U.S. determines that Mainland China has suppressed Hong Kong's autonomy,” Trumbull said. “The current tension in Hong Kong, with protesters saying that China is attempting to do just that could trigger President Trump to invoke the Hong Kong Policy Act and subject goods of Hong Kong origin to the Section 301 tariffs,” he said. “Companies relocating production from Mainland China to Hong Kong to avoid the Section 301 tariffs on China are getting the jitters” over concerns that the U.S. could use the law to end Hong Kong’s status as a separate customs territory from China, he said.

The manufacturing of major Roomba robotic vacuum subassemblies that occurs in Malaysia is enough to consider the vacuum to be of Malaysian origin, and so not subject to U.S. tariffs on China-made products. The vacuum is classified in subheading 8508.11.0000, which was included in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. IRobot's Roomba "packaged with the Chinese origin accessories of the rechargeable battery, dock station, power card and option virtual wall is a set put up for retail sale," Customs and Border Protection said in a July 31 ruling, released this month. It agreed with iRobot's description.

Fitbit shares hit a 52-week low at $2.81 early Wednesday before launch of its Versa2 smartwatch and Premium subscription service. Both are expected to play major roles in a company rebound, as Fitbit tries to reverse course after disappointing Q2 results and a pullback in full-year revenue guidance earlier this month (see 1908010027). Shares closed 6 percent higher at $3.02.