Third Tranche of Tariffs to Take Effect Sept. 24; Trump Threatens More if China Retaliates

The third tranche of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will take effect Sept. 24 at a duty rate of 10 percent, rising to 25 percent after Jan. 1, said President Donald Trump Monday evening. The administration will “immediately pursue” a fourth tranche of tariffs on $267 billion of additional imports if China retaliates against the third group, said Trump.

The U.S. for months has urged China to change its “unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies,” said Trump. “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”

The administration didn’t immediately release the final list of third-tranche tariffs, but officials said roughly 300 tariff lines were removed from the original 6,031-item list released July 10 (see our July 12 report here), a 5 percent reduction. The administration also removed some additional subsets of products within certain tariff lines, sparing smartwatches and Bluetooth devices imported to the U.S. under the broad 8517.62.00 tariff code, but leaving in place other products in that classification, including networking equipment, said the officials. Even with the changes, the list still adds up to $200 billion worth of imports, they said.