Tariffs/Trade Policy

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On August 31, 2018, President Donald Trump officially notified Congress of his administration’s intent “to enter into a trade agreement with Mexico — and with Canada if it is willing, in a timely manner, to meet the high standards for free, fair, and reciprocal trade contained therein.” Notification was necessary under the provisions of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation, which allows “fast track” consideration of trade agreements (i.e., Congress can vote to approve or reject a trade deal but cannot amend the text of the agreement). In the wake of the president’s notification, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer indicated that a resulting free trade agreement could either be bilateral (with Mexico) or trilateral (with Canada also), depending upon the final negotiated text of any agreement. It has been questioned, however, whether a bilateral agreement fulfills TPA requirements since Congress had been earlier notified of the Trump administration’s intent to renegotiate a trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). If Congress believes that a free trade agreement with only Mexico does not qualify for TPA consideration, amendments could be offered by Congress, potentially complicating any final agreement. With Congressional notification under the TPA, the actual text of any agreement must be submitted to Congress within the next 30 days for its consideration.

Late Wednesday night, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced targeted relief from the voluntary quotas the United States successfully negotiated with South Korea, Argentina and Brazil on steel, and with Argentina on aluminum. U.S. companies may now apply for product exclusions seeking steel or aluminum from these countries based on insufficient quantity or quality available from U.S. steel or aluminum producers. In such cases, the Department of Commerce has stated that an exclusion from the negotiated quota limits “may be granted and no tariff would be owed.” Previously, the product exclusion request processes were limited to steel and aluminum from countries that were fully subject to the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, and did not allow for the submission of product exclusion requests for steel and aluminum products subject to the Section 232 tariffs from countries with negotiated quotas, which allowed imported products within the quotas to be exempt from those tariffs.

On August 10, 2018, President Trump announced on Twitter that the United States would double Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, referencing the drop of the Turkish lira as his reason for hiking the tariffs. Later that day, the White House issued a presidential proclamation directing that a 50 percent ad valorem tariff…

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has finalized and released its second list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings totaling approximately $16 billion worth of imports from China that will be subject to a 25 percent retaliatory tariff as part of the U.S. government’s ongoing Section 301 investigation and response to China’s…

What a week for U.S.-China trade relations! On July 6, the United States began imposing 25 percent tariffs on approximately $34 billion worth of Chinese products imported into the United States. China then retaliated by imposing tariffs of its own on $34 billion worth of U.S. exports to China, which the United States called “inappropriate”…

As reported in a prior post, the United States on July 6, 2018 began imposing 25 percent tariffs on approximately $34 billion worth of Chinese products imported into the United States. This was the result of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) undertaking a Section 301 investigation into “China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation.” Shortly after these tariffs were implemented, China retaliated by imposing tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. exports to China. In response, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced yesterday, July 10, 2018, “As a result of China’s retaliation and failure to change its practices, the President has ordered USTR to begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional $200 billion of Chinese imports.” He added, “For over a year, the Trump Administration has patiently urged China to stop its unfair practices, open its market, and engage in true market competition. We have been very clear and detailed regarding the specific changes China should undertake. Unfortunately, China has not changed its behavior – behavior that puts the future of the U.S. economy at risk. Rather than address our legitimate concerns, China has begun to retaliate against U.S. products. There is no justification for such action.”

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…