China Tariff Review May be Further Delayed, Exclusions Could be Extended

Importers have been waiting for more than a year to learn whether there will be any relief from the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China, and it now appears they won’t have any good news to unwrap for the holidays either.

The tariffs would have expired in summer 2022, but the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced last September that it had received numerous requests to continue them. USTR subsequently opened a two-month comment period seeking input on whether the tariffs had been effective in remedying problematic Chinese policies and practices, whether there are measures other than tariffs that might be more effective, and how the tariffs had impacted U.S. consumers, manufacturers, workers, technology, and supply chain resilience.

USTR Katherine Tai said earlier this year that USTR is open to changes to the tariffs, including removing them on some goods and adding them on others. Among other things, she said, USTR is looking at “how to make the tariffs more strategic in light of impacts on sectors of the U.S. economy as well as the goal of increasing domestic manufacturing.” Tai also said USTR will consider “whether an additional [tariff] exclusions process may be warranted” as well as “ways a future exclusion could be altered to be more effective.”

Tai initially said she expected this review to be completed by this fall, then by the end of the year. However, despite continued expressions of interest from Congress and the private sector, USTR has been non-responsive to questions regarding the status of the review in recent weeks, and there are now reports that USTR won’t issue its report until the first quarter of 2024. 

As a result, USTR may extend the current tariff exclusions, which are currently scheduled to expire Dec. 31, for a few more months to allow time for the review to be completed. These include more than 300 exclusions of various products (click here for full list) as well as exclusions for 77 medical care products needed to address the COVID-pandemic.

In the meantime, efforts to ameliorate the impact of the China Section 301 tariffs are continuing.

– ST&R is advocating for the renewal of all previously approved exclusions and the creation of a process allowing for new exclusion requests (for more information, please contact strdc@strtrade.com).

– There are a number of proven and legitimate ways to effectively avoid the tariffs or limit their impact (click here for more information).

– Importers of List 3 and 4A goods from China can still preserve their rights to possible refunds of tariffs paid on such goods by joining an ongoing court case (for more information, or assistance filing a claim, please contact us at 301Litigation@strtrade.com).