USTR Requests Comments on Reinstating Section 301 Exclusions

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on whether it should reinstate hundreds of Section 301 product exclusions that expired either late last year or early this year. The public docket at https://comments.USTR.gov will open Oct. 12, and parties can submit comments until Dec. 1. The agency is asking that commenters not only weigh in on specific products, but also on how long the exclusions should last.

"USTR will evaluate the possible reinstatement of each exclusion on a case-by-case basis. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the imposition of additional duties beginning in September 2018, the particular product remains available only from China," the Federal Register notice will say. In addition, USTR would like to know how much of the product has been imported from China over the last three years and at what price; whether Chinese suppliers lowered their prices for the goods after tariffs were imposed; how much of the product was bought from other countries in the last three years; the purchaser's gross revenues for the last three years; and whether the product is an input or not.

"USTR will consider whether or not reinstating the exclusion will impact or result in severe economic harm to the commenter or other U.S. interests, including the impact on small businesses, employment, manufacturing output, and critical supply chains in the United States, as well as the overall impact of the exclusions on the goal of obtaining the elimination of China’s acts, policies, and practices covered in the Section 301 investigation," the agency said.

Tariffs will not be refundable from the time of the last expiration, but rather from Oct. 12, if the entries had not yet been liquidated by the time that USTR rules on the exclusion, and the company is ready to ask for the tariff to be waived.