Industry News
USTR Granting Certain Requests for Exclusion from Additional Duties
TweetApril 23, 2020
In September 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) imposed additional duties on goods from China with an annual trade value of approximately $200 billion. These duties form part of the action in the Section 301 investigation of China’s acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The USTR later initiated a product exclusion process in June 2019 by which stakeholders could request exclusion of particular products covered by the $200 billion action from the additional duties. On April 23, 2020, USTR announced in a Federal Register notice its determination to grant certain exclusion requests, as set forth in the Annex of the notice. It further corrected a technical error in a previously announced exclusion.
The product exclusions announced in the notice will apply retroactively as of September 24, 2018, the effective date of the $200 billion action, and extend to August 7, 2020. The amendments announced in this notice are retroactive to the date that the original exclusions were published. The exclusions are available for any product meeting the description in the Annex, irrespective of the importer benefitting from the product exclusion having filed an exclusion request. Further, the product descriptions in the Annex, as opposed to the product descriptions found in a request for exclusion, determine the scope of each exclusion.
The product exclusions announced in the notice will apply retroactively as of September 24, 2018, the effective date of the $200 billion action, and extend to August 7, 2020. The amendments announced in this notice are retroactive to the date that the original exclusions were published. The exclusions are available for any product meeting the description in the Annex, irrespective of the importer benefitting from the product exclusion having filed an exclusion request. Further, the product descriptions in the Annex, as opposed to the product descriptions found in a request for exclusion, determine the scope of each exclusion.
