The U.S. and China both announced April 8 steps to increase tariffs on each other’s imports.
President Trump issued an executive order that increases the “reciprocal” tariff on imports of all goods from China (including Hong Kong) from 34 percent to 84 percent, effective at 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 9. (At press time on April 9 Trump had announced a further increase in this tariff to 125 percent, but no official documentation of that change had yet been released.)
The EO also modifies a previous EO terminating duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports from China as of May 2 by specifying that such shipments sent through the international postal network will be subject to a duty rate of either 90 percent (up from 30 percent) of their value or $75 per item (up from $25), increasing to $150 per item (up from $50) as of June 1. (At press time there was no indication of whether additional de minimis-related changes are forthcoming.)
These changes were imposed in response to the measures China announced April 4 in retaliation for a 34 percent “reciprocal” tariff the U.S. levied on imports from China. Beijing subsequently responded to these additional changes with the following measures.
- imposing an 84 percent tariffs on all goods imported from the U.S., effective as of 12:01 a.m. China time on April 10 (except goods that departed the port of loading before that time and are imported between April 10 and May 13)
- effective April 10, adding another six U.S. entities to its unreliable entity list, which are thus prohibited from engaging in import and export activities related to China as well as making new investments in China
- effective April 4, adding another 12 U.S. entities to its dual-use export control list, meaning exports of dual-use items to these entities are prohibited and all relevant export activities currently being carried out must be halted immediately
ST&R offers a three-pronged approach to avoiding, mitigating, and/or recovering import tariffs. For more information on which of these strategies might be most effective for your business, or specific assistance with imports from or exports to China, please contact ST&R.
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