France’s digital service tax (DST) is a radical departure from international norm, discriminates against U.S. companies and undermines efforts to reach global, multilateral consensus on the digital economy, tech companies and trade groups told U.S. officials Monday (see 1908140056). Witnesses from Facebook, Google, Amazon, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council testified before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and officials from various federal agencies. Representatives from the departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Homeland Security and others questioned tech witnesses as part of the USTR’s Section 301 investigation of France’s DST.
In the weeks before the Trump administration’s announcement Tuesday placing finished speakers from China on List 4A for 10 percent Section 301 tariffs to take effect Sept. 1 (see 1908130028), SVS Sound “accelerated production” to beat the duties as best it could, CEO Gary Yacoubian told us Thursday. “We won’t have everything we need for the holidays” without further tariff exposure, “but we’ll have more than we would have,” said Yacoubian, a former CTA chairman when it was CEA.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on which sites and physical markets should be on the Notorious Markets List. Written comments in the Special 301 out-of-cycle review are due by Sept. 30.
Lenovo remains committed to China as part of its “globally diverse manufacturing footprint,” despite the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, said CEO Yuanqing Yang on a fiscal Q1 call Wednesday. Lenovo is standing by its recent decision to invest more than $300 million in a “new smart manufacturing facility" in Shenzhen, he said. “That will not be changed.” The administration this week deferred 10 percent tariffs to Dec. 15 on several products Lenovo ships to the U.S. from China, including laptops and PC monitors, but left in place Sept. 1 tariffs on other goods, including desktop computers (see 1908130028). Lenovo has “built up efficiencies to offset” the U.S. tariff increase, said the CEO. “We reside in multiple locations around the world, which gives us a lot of flexibility compared with our key competitors in that atmosphere.”
The Government Accountability Office found that e-cigarette devices brought in $71.5 million in tariff revenues from 2016 to 2018, while parts for the vaping industry were responsible for $41.6 million in tariffs. The liquid for e-cigarettes is imported at lower volumes, and accounted for $7.4 million in tariffs during the two-year period.
Lenovo remains committed to China as part of its “globally diverse manufacturing footprint,” despite the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, said CEO Yuanqing Yang on a fiscal Q1 call Wednesday. Lenovo is standing by its recent decision to invest more than $300 million in a “new smart manufacturing facility" in Shenzhen, he said. “That will not be changed.” The administration this week deferred 10 percent tariffs to Dec. 15 on several products Lenovo ships to the U.S. from China, including laptops and PC monitors, but left in place Sept. 1 tariffs on other goods, including desktop computers (see 1908130028). Lenovo has “built up efficiencies to offset” the U.S. tariff increase, said the CEO. “We reside in multiple locations around the world, which gives us a lot of flexibility compared with our key competitors in that atmosphere.”
The American Apparel and Footwear Association complained about the tenor of news coverage about Section 301 tariff delays, noting that 77 percent of apparel and textiles will face an additional 10 percent tariff on Sept. 1, not the later December date.
Though Walmart expects to finish 2019 toward the “upper end” of its previous guidance of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent same-store sales growth, it’s slightly scaling back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, it said in a fiscal Q2 report Thursday. It was the first bellwether of possible retail impact from the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1, and again Dec. 15, on Chinese goods (see 1908130028).
Though Walmart expects to finish 2019 toward the “upper end” of its previous guidance of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent same-store sales growth, it’s slightly scaling back full-year expectations on consolidated net sales growth, it said in a fiscal Q2 report Aug. 15. It was the first bellwether of possible retail impact from the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1, and again Dec. 15, on Chinese goods.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted to its website Aug. 14 its upcoming notice in the Federal Register detailing new Section 301 tariffs on a fourth list of $300 billion in Chinese imports (see 1908130033). According to the notice, 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.