High tech goods from China that are eligible for USMCA treatment remain subject to applicable Section 301 tariffs, CBP said in a Sept. 11 ruling. The ruling is a follow-up to a ruling in August that addressed a question of whether goods that originate in China and imported from Mexico are eligible for USMCA treatment (see 2008110037). While CBP in the previous ruling said that such goods are eligible for USMCA treatment, the agency didn't say then whether the Section 301 tariffs would apply.
Section 301 (too broad)
Importers that want to benefit from a lawsuit challenging list 3 and list 4A Section 301 tariffs on goods from China may face a tight deadline for filing their own cases at the Court of International Trade, law firms said in recent days. “This lawsuit, if successful, could result in the refund of all Section 301 tariffs levied on List 3 and List 4A goods from China,” the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed alert. “However, importers must file their own independent claims to preserve their potential refunds by Friday, Sept. 18.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative plans to adjust an extension for a Section 301 tariff exclusion, it said in a notice. The agency said the technical change applies to an extension of an exclusion to the third list of goods subject to the tariffs. The extensions were “modified by deleting '(described in statistical reporting number 9403.20.0050)' and inserting '(described in statistical reporting number 9403.20.0050 or 9403.20.0078)' in lieu thereof,” it said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 7-13:
A new World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel report said that the U.S. improperly applied Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. “It remains to be seen whether the US decides to appeal the ruling,” former WTO official Peter Ungphakorn said in a tweet. “Since the Appellate Body cannot function, this would be an 'appeal into the void.'” The WTO appeals court is mostly inoperable due to a U.S. hold on adding new members.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 8-11 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
A vinyl tile supplier challenged the extension of tariffs to cover the third list of goods from China using Section 301 tariff authority, in a lawsuit filed Sept. 10 at the Court of International Trade. Represented by lawyers at Akin Gump, HMTX Industries and subsidiaries Halstead and Metroflor said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative overstepped the Section 301 statute when it made more goods subject to the tariffs 12 months after the beginning of the investigation. The law doesn't provide authority for the government to “litigate a vast trade war for however long, and by whatever means, they choose,” the company said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP is unable to say much about a proposal to eliminate the de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, said Brandon Lord, CBP Office of Trade deputy executive director for trade policy and programs. Lord mentioned the proposal during a CBP Virtual Trade Week session Sept. 10. “Assuming that [the Office of Management and Budget] approves the proposed rule,” it will be eventually published in the Federal Register and opened for public comments, he said. He said the proposal was recently picked up by the “trade industry press” (see 2009040026), and that “it's difficult for us to make a lot of comments on this,” due to “restrictions around the rulemaking process.”
July laptop and tablet unit imports to the U.S. continued their torrid growth from a year earlier, though July growth was flat sequentially from June, according to Census Bureau data accessed Sept. 6 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. Shortages of laptop liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and central processing units (CPUs) threaten to impede sales as the supply chain buckles under the weight of sustained consumer demand for notebook PCs as “essential” work-from-home and remote-learning connectivity tools, market leaders Hewlett-Packard and Dell said during earnings calls in August.