Section 301 Investigations

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Following a dinner meeting between the two leaders at the G-20 summit in early December, President Donald Trump announced that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to begin and complete negotiations on certain trade issues between the countries within 90 days. As part of that process, Trump agreed to postpone for 90 days in…

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) determined December 7, 2018, by a 5-0 unanimous vote of its commissioners that U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from China. This finding follows the determination of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) in early November that such…

At a dinner meeting on December 1, 2018, at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to begin negotiations on changes regarding forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. Both agreed to seek completion of such discussions…

On September 18, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the exclusion request process for the Trump administration’s second tranche of products covered under the Section 301 trade action against China for its unfair policies and practices involving forced technology transfers and intellectual property rights. On August 16, 2018, the United States implemented retaliatory tariffs…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released an updated Section 301 report concerning China’s forced technology transfers and infringement of intellectual property rights. This report updates the original March 22, 2018 investigation findings and follows the U.S. government’s imposition of import tariffs on July 6, 2018, August 23, 2018 and September 24,…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a significant ruling in September that distinguished between North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) country-of-origin marking rules and the country-of-origin rules applying to products subject to Section 301 tariffs and trade remedy duties. In its ruling, CBP determined that Chinese-origin components imported into Mexico for assembly into an…

On November 7, 2018, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) issued an affirmative final determination in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from the People’s Republic of China (China). These investigations were self-initiated by the Trump administration last year (see Trump and Trade…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that President Trump is moving forward with additional tariffs in its Section 301 investigation involving China’s acts, policies and practices related to forced technology transfers and intellectual property rights. The USTR has finalized a third list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings resulting in additional tariffs of $200 billion on imports of Chinese products. The additional tariffs will go into effect September 24, 2018, and will be 10 percent at the start. The USTR has stated that these tariffs will increase to 25 percent on January 1, 2019.

On August 16, 2018, the United States implemented retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. imports of 279 Chinese products covering an estimated trade value of $16 billion in 2018. This was in addition to the $34 billion in tariffs implemented in June 2018.

With these tariffs in place, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced procedures to request the exclusion of products subject to this additional duty. In a notice published today in the Federal Register, the USTR has provided the criteria and detailed guidance for any product exclusion request application. Each request must specifically identify a particular product and provide supporting data and the rationale for the proposed exclusion. The USTR will not consider exclusion requests using criteria that cannot be made available to the public. Each request will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The USTR has specified, however, that the following information must be provided:

  • Identification of the particular product in terms of the physical characteristics (e.g., dimensions, material composition, or other characteristics) that distinguish it from other products within the covered 8-digit subheading. The USTR will not consider requests that identify the product at issue in terms of the identity of the producer, importer, ultimate consumer, actual use or chief use, or trademarks or tradenames. The USTR will not consider requests that identify the product using criteria that cannot be made available to the public.
  • The 10-digit subheading of the HTSUS applicable to the particular product requested for exclusion.
  • The annual quantity and value of the Chinese-origin product that the applicant purchased in each of the last three years.