As many of our readers are aware, the U.S. levied additional tariffs on goods made in China. These tariffs have come in waves that began on July 6th, 2018. Subsequently, the U.S. has implemented an exclusion process that allows for impacted companies to not only avoid these duties on certain products, but retroactively recover duties that were paid. These exclusions are based on the product descriptions, not the importers.
China 301 List 1 is currently assessed at a rate of 25 percent. This rate may increase to 30 percent on October 15th, but there has not been an official notice from CBP. To date, eight rounds of exclusions have been granted on 12/18, 3/19, 4/19, 5/19, 6/3, 7/8, 9/20, and 10/2.
List 2 is currently assessed at a rate of 25 percent and may also increase to 30 percent on October 15th, 2019. Three rounds of exclusions have been granted on 7/31, 9/20, and 10/2.
List 3 is currently assessed at a rate of 25 percent and may also increase to 30 percent on October 15th, 2019. Two rounds of exclusions have been granted on 8/7 , 9/20 , 10/24 and 11/13.
List 4a became effective on 9/1/2019 and is currently assessed at a rate of 15 percent. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that, starting October 31st, requests for exclusions from duties for the commodities can be submit until January 31st, 2020.
List 4b is set to become effective on 12/15/2019 with no exclusion process.
If your company is impacted by the China tariffs, it is worth the time to review the exclusions that have been granted to date. Anyone can use the existing exclusions, as long as the tariff # and product description listed in the exclusion fit the goods in question.
The party requesting the exclusion has already proved that they met the following criteria: they are only available in China, that the imposition of additional duties on those products would cause severe economic harm to U.S. interests, and that the products were not strategically important or related to the ‘‘Made in China 2025’’ initiative.
If your company finds that your goods are eligible for an exclusion, please contact the U.S. Regulatory Team for information regarding duty recovery and preparing for future shipments of the products.