USTR Seeks Comments in Four-Year Review of China Section 301 Tariffs

On October 12, 2022, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a notice and request for comments regarding its ongoing four-year statutory review of the Section 301 investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation. The USTR is seeking public comments on the effectiveness of the tariff actions in achieving the objectives of the investigation, other actions that could be taken, and the effects of such actions on the United States economy, including consumers.

The USTR is specifically interested in comments on the following:

• The effectiveness of the actions in obtaining the elimination of China’s acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation.
• The effectiveness of the actions in counteracting China’s acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation.
• Other actions or modifications that would be more effective in obtaining the elimination of or in counteracting China’s acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation.
• The effects of the actions on the U.S. economy, including U.S. consumers.
• The effects of the actions on domestic manufacturing, including in terms of capital investments, domestic capacity and production levels, industry concentrations, and profits.
• The effects of the actions on U.S. technology, including in terms of U.S. technological leadership and U.S. technological development.
• The effects of the actions on U.S. workers, including with respect to employment and wages.
• The effects of the actions on U.S. small businesses.
• The effects of the actions on U.S. supply chain resilience.
• The effects of the actions on the goals of U.S. critical supply chains.
• Whether the actions have resulted in higher additional duties on inputs used for additional manufacturing in the United States than the additional duties on particular downstream product(s) or finished good(s) incorporating those inputs.

The USTR will open a public docket on November 15, 2022, to receive public comments. All comments must be submitted via the USTR’s online portal at https://comments.USTR.gov on Docket No. USTR-2022-0014. The portal will allow for the submission of Business Confidential Information (BCI). The USTR will post submissions in the docket for public inspection, except for BCI filings. The docket will close on January 17, 2023. At a later date, the USTR will evaluate whether to provide further opportunities for public comment through additional written comments or by holding public hearings.

In early September 2022, the USTR confirmed that domestic industries had reported benefiting from the tariffs and that such tariffs would continue during the review process (see  Update of September 6, 2022). For more details on the initiation of these reviews, see Update of May 3, 2022.