House Bill Would Direct USTR to Extend Chinese Tariff Exclusions for a Year

Bipartisan legislation would direct the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to extend expiring exclusions on Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods for at least a year. Thursday's bill, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., would give USTR some discretion. It would exempt the agency from the extension requirement on any product deemed to be important to the Made in China 2025 industrial program or if extending the exclusions would cause “severe harm” to the U.S. USTR would have 15 days from enactment to give Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee "detailed justification" for any exemption. The practice has been to extend expiring tariff exclusions through a series of notice and comment rulemakings (see 2007150051). USTR didn’t comment Friday.