Lawmakers Push USTR for Section 301 Exclusion Process on Latest Tariffs

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer should put in place an exclusion process from the 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, which the Trump administration imposed Sept. 24 (see 1809240015), 169 members of Congress said in a letter Monday to Lighthizer's office. The USTR allowed for exclusion requests for each of the first two lists of tariffs that took effect July 6 and Aug, 23, but the Trump administration has made no mention about a similar process for the third tranche. Such an exclusion process would "afford U.S. companies the opportunity to see relief if tariffs harm their global competitiveness and would help target the effects of the tariffs on China rather than on U.S. companies and their customers," said the lawmakers, led by Reps. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., and Ron Kind, D-Wis. "We ... appreciated that an exclusion process was set up to further refine the first two lists," they said. "However, the lack of a process for this most recent list is a glaring omission, particularly given its size in relation to the first two lists." The exclusion process should be "fact based" and spelled out in a Federal Register notice, they said.