This is a reminder that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has set a deadline of November 30th for filing requests for extending product exclusions that were granted in December 2018 in the trade dispute with China. These exclusions were part of the first round of Section 301 tariffs placed on imports of Chinese goods (List/Tranche 1 products) and are set to expire on December 28, 2019. At this time, USTR is only considering the possible extension of up to 12 months for List 1 product exclusions. No other extensions under any other product exclusion notices issued by USTR will be considered.
USTR will only accept extension requests through November 30, 2019. All submissions must be made electronically via the www.regulations.gov portal in Docket No. USTR-2019-0019. USTR strongly recommends that those wishing to comment and/or request an exclusion extension complete Exclusion Extension Comment: Form A. If applicable, importers and purchasers should also submit Exclusion Extension Comment: Form B, containing business confidential information via email to [email protected], which will not be made available to the public. Both Form A and Form B are available in the docket referenced above. They also appear with the USTR’s Federal Register Notice on this matter, available here.
USTR has indicated that it will evaluate the possible extension of each exclusion on a case-by-case basis. The focus of the evaluation will be “whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties in July 2018, the particular product remains available only from China.” The following issues should be addressed in submitting any comments:
● Whether the particular product and/or a comparable product is available from sources in the United States and/or in third countries.
● Any changes in the global supply chain since July 2018 with respect to the particular product, or any other relevant industry developments.
● The efforts, if any, the importers or U.S. purchasers have undertaken since July 2019 to source the product form the United States or third countries.
USTR also noted that it will continue to consider whether the imposition of additional duties on the products covered by the exclusion will result in severe economic harm to the commenter or other U.S. interests.