The US on 6 July 2018 began collecting additional tariffs of 25% on US$34 billion worth of imports from Mainland China spanning 818 tariff lines (List 1). A large percentage of these goods are from Harmonized System (HS) Chapters 84, 85, 87, 88 and 90 – such as engines and motors; construction, drilling and agricultural machinery; machines for working minerals, glass, rubber or plastic; rail locomotives and rolling stock; motor vehicles and motorcycles; helicopters and aircraft; and testing, measuring and diagnostic instruments and devices.
For further information, please check List 1
As of 23 August 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) received 10,823 requests submitted for exclusions from the 25% additional tariff on List 1 products. Of these, 6,877 were denied and 2,813 granted (covering products of HS Chapters 84, 85, 86 and 90); the remaining requests are still under review. A full list of approved exclusions can be found here. The granted exclusions are retroactive to 6 July 2018 and remain in place for a year from the approval date.
Importers should be aware that approved exclusions are available for any item that meets the specific product description, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. In addition, the scope of each exclusion is governed by the scope of the 10-digit subheading or the specific product description to which it applies, not by the product descriptions set out in any particular exclusion request.
Additional tariffs of 25% have been charged on a second list of goods since 23 August 2018. The second list (List 2) comprises 279 tariff lines with a total import value of about US$16 billion. Many of these products are classified in HS Chapters 39, 84 and 85, but various products in Chapters 27, 34, 38, 70, 73, 76, 86, 87, 89 and 90 are also included. Affected goods include plastics and plastic products; industrial machinery; machinery for working stone, ceramics, concrete, wood, hard rubber, plastic and glass; cargo containers; tractors; and optical fibres.
For further information, please check List 2
With respect to List 2 products, as of 23 August 2019, the USTR granted 292 and denied 1,484 of the 2,928 exclusion requests received. Please check here for details.
Tariffs of 10% have been applied on a third list (List 3) of goods since 24 September 2018. The third list comprises 5,733 tariff lines with an import value of about US$200 billion. Affected products include, among others, various travel goods of HS code heading 4202; leather products of heading 4203; plastic products of Chapter 39; tyres of heading 4011; textile products of Chapters 50 through 60; headwear of Chapter 65; furniture of heading 9403; lamps of heading 9405; certain printed-circuit assemblies classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the US (HTSUS) 8473.30.11; and machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus, classified under HTSUS 8517.62.00. However, the list does not include any apparel products (Chapters 61 and 62), footwear products (Chapter 64), or toys and games (Chapter 95).
For further information, please check List 3
The USTR has since issued an official notice increasing the additional tariff on List 3 products from 10% to 25%, with effect from 10 May 2019. The affected products, however, are not subject to the tariff increase as long as they entered the US prior to 15 June 2019 (extended from 1 June 2019). Such products remain subject to the additional duty of 10% for this interim period.
The USTR has also announced the first batch of products to be excluded from the additional 25% duty imposed under Section 301 on some US$200 billion worth of imports from Mainland China (List 3 goods). These exclusions are retroactive to 24 September 2018 and remain in place for one year from the date of publication of an official notice in the Federal Register. Interested parties may continue to submit product exclusion requests for List 3 goods, on which tariffs were raised from 10% to 25% on 10 May 2019, through 30 September 2019.
The excluded products include 10 specially prepared product descriptions, covering container units of plastics; injection moulded polypropylene plastic caps or lids; kayak paddles; high tenacity polyester yarn; nonwovens; pet cages of steel; carts; truck trailer skirt brackets; inflatable boats and inflatable kayaks and canoes. Click here for details.
US President Donald Trump on 1 August 2019 announced the imposition of tariffs on all the US$300 billion worth of imports from Mainland China previously excluded from Section 301 tariffs (List 4 goods) , effective from 1 September 2019.
The new levy covers all apparel, footwear, toys, jewellery, watches and clocks among others, but excluded pharmaceuticals, certain pharmaceutical inputs, select medical goods, rare earth materials, and critical minerals.
On 13 August 2019, the USTR announced details on the imposition of an additional tariff of 10% on these List 4 Mainland Chinese imports. Based on health, safety, national security and other factors such as comments and petitions received during public hearings and reviews, a total of 25 tariff lines were removed from the proposed List 4 announced on 13 May 2019. The final List 4 (comprising List 4A and List 4B) now includes 3,787 tariff lines. List 4A items (3,232) are subject to the additional tariff from 1 September 2019, while corresponding levies on the rest or List 4B items (555) -- including mobile phones, laptop computers, video-game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing -- are delayed to 15 December 2019.
In response to the additional Mainland Chinese tariffs announced on 23 August 2019 on US$75 billion US-origin goods, US President Trump announced on the same day that the existing 25% tariffs on US$250 billion of goods would be increased to 30% from 1 October 2019 (although the proposed increase is subject to public comment until 20 September ) and the 10% tariffs scheduled to go into effect for List 4A items on 1 September 2019 and List 4B goods on 15 December 2019 would be increased to 15%.
Mr Trump on 11 September 2019 announced that he had agreed to postpone an increase in tariffs (from 25% to 30%) on US$250 billion worth of mainland-sourced goods from 1 October 2019 to 15 October 2019 as a good-will gesture. However, on 11 October he said the US would suspend the tariff increase as the two sides had reached an initial deal, with the mainland pledging to buy American farm products worth US$40-50 billion.
