Tariffs/Trade Policy

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On July 6, 2018, the United States implemented retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. imports of approximately 800 Chinese products covering an estimated trade value of $34 billion in 2018. Pursuant to its Section 301 investigation into “China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced its determination to implement the tariffs in a June 20, 2018 Federal Register notice (see Annex B of the notice for the full list of covered HTSUS Codes). The USTR indicated that products under these HTSUS codes “contain products identified as benefitting from China’s industrial policies, including the ‘Made in China 2025’ program.”

In March 2018, President Trump announced that under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the United States would increase tariffs on imports of certain steel products by 25 percent and imports on certain aluminum products by 10 percent on countries worldwide, including imports from the members of the European Union (EU) and Turkey. Although the EU was initially exempted from the imposition of tariffs, these tariffs came into place pursuant to two Presidential Proclamations issued on May 31, 2018. In response, the EU and Turkey announced their intent to impose retaliatory tariff measures.

As part of the Trump administration’s continuing efforts under Section 301 to pressure the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to change its intellectual property and forced technology transfer practices, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced in the Federal Register today (1) which PRC products will be subject to a Section 301 25 percent…

Last Friday, the Trump administration released the list of imported products from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that will be subject to an additional 25 percent tariff. The retaliatory tariffs are the result of (1) the U.S. government’s Section 301 investigation and report that assessed the PRC government’s intellectual property and technology transfer practices…

President Donald Trump signed yesterday two presidential proclamations adjusting imports of aluminum and steel into the United States. In doing so, he stated that measures are now in place to address the impairment to the national security threatened by imports of steel and aluminum from Argentina, Brazil and Australia. South Korea previously reached an agreement with the United States on April 30 to limit its imports of steel. President Trump added, however, that “similar measures are not in place with respect to steel or aluminum imports from Mexico, Canada or the European Union” and that insufficient progress had been made in ongoing negotiations with these countries. He declared that, as of June 1, 2018, the Section 232 tariffs for steel of 25 percent and for aluminum of 10 percent will no longer be suspended for such imports from these countries. The White House indicated that it will continue discussions with them and remains open to discussions with other countries that may lead to permanent country-based exemptions.

President Trump has released a statement setting forth the steps that his administration will undertake in an effort to protect domestic technology and intellectual property from China’s unfair and discriminatory trade practices. These actions are the result of the findings of the U.S. Trade Representative investigation pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of…

Over the weekend, China and the United States continued bilateral trade consultations and announced they had reached a consensus on “taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China.” In a Joint Statement, both countries agreed (1) to increases in U.S. agriculture and energy exports, (2) on the…

With the deadline approaching for full implementation of the Section 232 tariffs on certain steel and aluminum imports, President Trump on April 30, 2018 relented to increasing pressure and extended the tariff exemptions for key U.S. allies until June 1, 2018. In making the announcement, the Trump administration announced that it had previously reached a…

In its self-initiated investigation, the Department of Commerce has preliminarily determined that countervailing duties (CVD) should be assessed for imports of aluminum sheet from China to counteract Chinese government subsidies. Commerce calculated a 31.20 percent CVD rate for Chinese respondent Yong Jie New Material Co., Ltd.; a 34.99 percent CVD rate for respondents Henan Mingtai Industrial Co., Ltd. and Zhengzhou Mingtai Industry Co., Ltd.; and a 33.10 percent CVD rate for all other Chinese producers and exporters. Due to their failure to cooperate in the investigation, Commerce assigned a 113.30 percent CVD rate to respondents Chalco Ruimin Co., Ltd. and Chalco-SWA Cold Rolling Co., Ltd.

On April 12, 2018, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing to explore the effects on the U.S. economy and jobs of the tariff increases related to Section 232 and Section 301 investigations. Before the hearing, Chairman Kevin Brady stated, “In enforcing our trade laws, we should always take a targeted approach to address unfair practices while avoiding harm to U.S. workers and job creators. Our private sector witnesses will discuss the impact of recently announced U.S. tariff increases on their businesses, including product and country coverage of the tariffs, the process to comment on and apply for exclusions from the tariffs, and the effects of possible retaliation on U.S. exporters.” In his opening comments, Brady highlighted China’s questionable trade policies and practices, but also asked, “How do you avoid punishing Americans for China’s misbehavior?”