On August 6, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register notice announcing that for the nearly 1,000 exclusions it has granted to date for imported products from China appearing on Section 301 List 3 (Chinese goods with an annual trade value of approximately $200 billion), it will only grant
August 2020
President Trump Reimposes Section 232 Tariffs on Aluminum Imports from Canada
By Scott E. Diamond** on
On August 6, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation reimposing the 10% ad valorem tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum products from Canada. Referencing his original Section 232 Proclamation No. 9704 of March 8, 2018 (see Update of March 8, 2018), President Trump stated that imports of this form of…
USTR Grants Additional China Section 301 Tariff Exclusions for Products on List/Tranche 4A and Immediately Seeks Public Comment on Possible Extensions
By Scott E. Diamond** on
On August 6, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register notice exempting Section 301 tariffs for imports from China appearing on List4A (products from China with an annual trade value of $300 billion). The exemptions cover one 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading and nine specially prepared product descriptions,…
CIT Orders BIS to Reconsider and Further Explain Its Denial of U.S. Importer’s Section 232 Steel Exclusion Requests
By Scott E. Diamond** on
On August 5, 2020, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion remanding the denial of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of a U.S. importer’s requests for exclusion of certain steel articles from Section 232 tariffs of 25 percent. In July 2019, JSW Steel (USA), Inc. (JSW)…
USTR Seeks Public Comment on Extending China Section 301 List/Tranche 1 Product Exclusions Set to Expire October 2, 2020
By Scott E. Diamond** on
On August 3, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on whether extensions for up to 12 months should be granted for particular products receiving exclusions from the Section 301 25 percent tariff on imports from China with an annual trade value of $34 billion…
OFAC Sanctions Chinese Government Agency and Officials for Human Rights Abuses
By Scott E. Diamond** on
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), Sun Jinlong, a former Political Commissar of the XPCC, and Peng Jiarui, the Deputy Party Secretary and Commander of the XPCC, in connection with human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous…