On June 20, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it will accept Exclusion Requests through an online portal for Chinese-origin merchandise listed on Section 301, Tranche 3, beginning at noon EDT on June 30, 2019 and ending on September 30, 2019. Merchandise listed on Tranche 3 is currently subject to additional tariff rates of 25% ad valorem.

Products which are the subject of a successful Exclusion Request will be excluded from application of the additional 25% tariff. “Interested persons”, including importers, U.S. producers, purchasers, industry / trade associations, and others, can submit requests for exclusion. Interested persons must submit separate requests for each product. If granted, an exclusion will be effective from September 24, 2018 (the effective date for Tranche 3), and extend for one year after the exclusion is published in the Federal Register. Therefore, importers will have the opportunity to seek refunds from U.S. Customs for additional duties previously paid on products which receive an exclusion.

After a request for exclusion is posted on the USTR portal, interested persons will have 14 days to respond, indicating support or opposition. The requestor will have the opportunity to reply to the response within the later of 7 days after the close of the aforementioned 14 day period, or 7 days after the posting of a response. All responses and replies must be submitted through the USTR portal.

If you are interested in participating in the process described above, please contact our office to speak with one of our attorneys.