President Delays New Russia-Related Tariffs

President Trump has issued an executive order waiving new tariffs required under a recent law targeted at Russia and countries that provide it with certain support.

The law requires the president to (1) increase tariff rates on virtually all imports from Russia to as much as 500 percent and (2) impose up to 100 percent tariffs on goods imported from (a) countries that knowingly make new purchases of Russian oil or gas on or after the date that is 30 days after the bill’s enactment, (b) the world’s top five purchasers of Russian oil or gas (with an exception for countries importing less than 15 percent of Russia’s oil and gas exports and taking significant steps to reduce those imports), or (c) the top five facilitators of Russian oil sanctions evasion.

These tariffs would stack on top of applicable antidumping and countervailing duties as well as Section 122, 201, 232, or 301 tariffs.

The law requires the tariffs to be imposed within 30 days but allows the president to waive them if doing so is deemed to be in the national interest. The Oct. 16 EO makes that determination and waives the tariffs “until such time as the President or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Trade Representative, as appropriate, determine that further action is appropriate.”

However, press reports cited Secretary of State Marco Rubio as suggesting the waiver will be in place for 60 days and indicating that the president will use that time to evaluate “what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the U.S. economy.”