In a press release issued on September 17, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the final third list of tariff items on goods from China (“List 3”) to become subject to additional duties under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Of the 6,031 tariff lines that were originally proposed on July 10th to become subject to the additional duties, 5,745 full or partial tariff lines remain on the final list.
Among the products removed from the proposed list are certain consumer electronics products such as smart watches and Bluetooth devices; certain chemical inputs for manufactured goods, textiles and agriculture; certain health and safety products such as bicycle helmets, and child safety furniture such as car seats and playpens.
List 3 goes into effect on September 24, 2018, with an additional duty rate of 10%. On January 1, 2019, the additional rate is slated to increase to 25%.
The press release does not reference an exclusion process for List 3. For Section 301 Lists 1 and 2, USTR established procedures for requesting product-specific exclusions from the additional duties (exclusion requests for List 1 are due by October 9, 2018; exclusion requests for List 2 are due December 18, 2018). A formal notice regarding List 3 will be published in the Federal Register that may provide additional information.
Importers and customs brokers are reminded to monitor in-transit shipments carefully to ensure that, wherever possible, these shipments have a “date of entry” for consumption, or an accepted Immediate Transportation entry, prior to September 24. If you have any questions on managing the entry filing process please contact us. We are also available to discuss options for responding to these developments such as exclusion requests, classification reviews, sourcing options, and valuation strategies. If you have specific questions, please contact our office.
