USTR Files Official Notification of 15% Section 301 Tariff on List 4 Chinese Goods

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will publish official notification in Friday's Federal Register that the List 4 tariffs will increase to 15 percent from 10 percent when they take effect Sunday and again Dec. 15, said a prepublication notice Tuesday. President Donald Trump ordered the increase last week after China announced retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods (see 1908230006). "China’s most recent response of announcing a new tariff increase on U.S. goods has shown that the current action being taken is no longer appropriate," said the notice of the former 10 percent List 4 rate. USTR had said it also will launch a new "notice and comment period" to raise the previous three rounds of tariffs to 30 percent from 25 percent, but that action wasn't covered in Tuesday's prepublication notice.