The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will issue a “technical correction” for one of the Section 301 tariff exclusions from List 4A, it said in a recently posted notice. The correction changes some language for “Bright C1060 round wire.” It also similarly corrected an extension of the exclusion. The change is effective as of Sept. 1, 2019, USTR said. The agency will also make two changes to List 3 exclusions, it said in another notice. Those changes apply to “Mixtures containing N,Ndimethyldodecan-1-amine (CAS No. 112–18–5) and N,N-dimethyltetradecan1-amine (CAS No. 112–75–4)” and machine parts of “heading 8471, whether or not incorporating fan hubs or LEDs but not incorporating other goods of headings 8541 or 8542.” Those changes apply from Aug. 7 and expire at the end of 2020.
Section 301 (too broad)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is considering sanctions against Vietnam for importing illegal lumber to use in wood furniture and for currency manipulation that it suspects is hurting U.S. industry. The Section 301 investigations, announced the evening of Oct. 2, invite public comment on the extent of the violations, the scope of its impact on U.S. commerce, and suggestions for how to respond. Comments are due by Nov. 12.
President Donald Trump’s “many tweets” and statements from his administration are strong evidence the White House unlawfully imposed the lists 3 and 4A tariffs to boost the U.S. Treasury and not curb the allegedly bad Chinese trade behavior documented in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s March 2018 Section 301 investigative report. So said the lawyer for two automotive components importers making the case that the tariffs are unconstitutional because only Congress has the power of taxation.
The U.S.-Japan mini-deal is not consistent with World Trade Organization rules, a former White House trade negotiator said, so the two sides mentioned a future phase two deal to cover substantially all trade to convince Japan's parliament to pass the accord. Because of the way the deal was structured, with small tariff reductions for Japanese exporters, it did not require a vote in Congress, Clete Willems, speaking recently on a webinar for University of Nebraska students, said. In calling the mini-deal phase one, “I think both sides were playing it cute, to be honest,” Willems, now at Akin Gump, said. He said Japan was not interested in a comprehensive bilateral trade deal, because it still wants the U.S. to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The thousands of complaints seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods and have the duties refunded warrant the Court of International Trade assigning the litigation to a three-judge panel instead of a single judge, Akin Gump said Sept. 30 on behalf of importers HMTX Industries and Jasco Products, in a court filing. The Department of Justice told Akin Gump it opposes the motion and will file a response, it said.
Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., and Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to lift the 25% Section 301 tariffs on Chinese hand sanitizer, suggesting that 301 exclusions for pump parts or other imports for American hand sanitizer manufacturers is not sufficient. They said that the ad hoc sanitizer manufacturing that has sprung up does not include ingredients to make sanitizers that have a gel or foam consistency, and that a more liquid form is not as effective. “There have been various other reports of quality problems in the industry, including a surge in reports of sanitizers containing dangerous contaminants, such as methanol and 1-propanol, that can be poisonous when absorbed through the skin or ingested. The list of FDA-recalled hand sanitizers due to unsafe and potentially lethal ingredients is rapidly growing; in June there were nine recalled sanitizers, and in only two months the list has grown to 165 recalled sanitizers,” they wrote recently.
The Section 301 lawsuits represent an important check on the government's imposition of tariffs despite the recent claims of a domestic industry group, a customs lawyer told International Trade Today. An industry analyst with the Coalition for a Prosperous America, Kenneth Rapoza, had disparaged lawyers representing companies challenging lists 3 and 4 of the Section 301 tariffs (see 2009300004). “Importers and Exporters, Domestic Producers and the population at large have a right to expect proper federal enforcement of Trade Laws,” Simon Gluck lawyer Chris Kane said in an email that he also posted on LinkedIn Oct. 1. “Attorneys play an indispensable role in seeing that happens. In the last BIG case, attorneys protected the rights of U.S. Exporters, including the members of Mr. Rapoza’s employer, to retrospective refunds of and prospective dispensation from the Export Harbor Maintenance Tax all the way to U.S. Supreme Court and thereafter. That’s how it works in our legal system,” he said.
More than 150 exclusions from lists 1 and 2 Section 301 China tariffs are set to expire Oct. 2, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to extend them in the days prior to their expiration.
Over 150 exclusions from lists 1 and 2 of Section 301 China tariffs are set to end Oct. 2, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not include them in two recently released notices of exclusion extensions. In its notice on List 1 exclusions, USTR granted extensions to nine out of the 96 exclusions listed in U.S. Note 20(x) and filed under tariff schedule subheading 9903.88.19. USTR's notice on List 2 exclusions announced extensions to 28 out of the 113 currently listed in U.S. Note 20(y) and filed under subheading 9903.88.20.
The Department of Justice motion for case management procedures to navigate the thousands of Section 301 tariff complaints before the Court of International Trade (see 2009240026) was “procedurally defective” because it wasn’t served on any other plaintiffs who filed cases involving the original HMTX Industries lawsuit, said an opposition Sept. 28 from Paulsen Vandevert, lawyer for importers GHSP and Brose North America. The more than 3,400 complaints seek to have the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings vacated and the paid duties refunded. GHSP, a supplier of electromechanical systems to the automotive industry, and Brose, a distributor of mechatronic parts for motorized car seats, are in “full agreement” with DOJ that the many complaints will require case management procedures, Vandevert said. But his clients “strongly object” to designating the three “first-filed” complaints as test cases, he said.