On Friday, October 11, 2019, the United States Administration announced a Phase 1 interim deal with China. The Phase 1 deal with China will require China to purchase U.S. agricultural products and set a currency standard for the China renminbi. It will also strengthen protections of U.S. intellectual property rights and provide access to Chinese markets for U.S. financial services firms. The United States will suspend the increase in tariffs from 25% to 30% on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports which was scheduled to take effect on October 15, 2019.
News / Regulatory Updates
On Wednesday, October 2, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office issued a press release in response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) finding that $7.5 billion in subsidies provided to Airbus by the European Union (EU) have “seriously injured” the United States (U.S.) aerospace industry. As a result of the findings, the U.S. will place WTO-approved tariffs on EU goods.
On Friday, September 27, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office released two notices of product exclusions to the Section 301 List 1 and 2 products currently subject to a 25% tariff as follows:
On Tuesday, September 17, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office released three notices of product exclusions to the Section 301 List 1-3 products currently subject to a 25% tariff as follows:
On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, the president of the United States announced that “as a gesture of good will” the United States will delay the 5% increase in tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports originally scheduled for October 1, 2019. The increase is now scheduled for October 15, 2019.
On Thursday, August 29, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a request for comments concerning Section 301 actions. This comment period is specific to the increase in tariffs from 25 percent to 30 percent for Section 301 Lists 1-3 valued at $250 billion previously announced in the USTR Statement on Section 301 Tariff Action Regarding China. These new tariffs are set to increase on October 1, 2019.
On Friday, August 23, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office released the USTR Statement on Section 301 Tariff Action Regarding China in response to China’s “unjustified tariffs targeting U.S. products.”
The United States will be increasing by 5% the tariffs on approximately $550 billion worth of Chinese imports as follows:
The Federal Register Notice 84 FR 43304 published by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Tuesday, August 20, 2019, announced the specifics related to the next steps for processing the new 10% tariffs on $300 billion of China products announced on August 13, 2019.
On Tuesday, August 13, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) posted a press release, USTR Announces Next Steps on Proposed 10 Percent Tariff on Imports from China.
The USTR advised that a two-phased approach will be used for the implementation of the 10 percent tariff on $300 billion of China products:
On August 2, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a Federal Register Notice announcing that CBP is adjusting certain customs user fees pursuant to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) for Fiscal Year 2020 in accordance with the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) as implemented by CBP regulations.