Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he's been told it's going to take three or four days for six other Senate committees to clear the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement so that it can go to the floor for a vote. Whether it can come up the week of Jan. 21 will depend on whether the articles of impeachment have arrived by then, he noted.
Section 301 (too broad)
Vizio became the first major TV brand to seek exclusions from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs on finished flat-panel sets from China when it filed Jan. 7 for exemptions on four 10-digit classifications of goods under subheading 8528.72.64 that vary by screen size. Vizio is “working closely” with its third-party original design manufacturers to shift production outside China, the vendor posted in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative public docket. “Some of the ODMs moved manufacturing to third countries including Mexico in the late Q3 2019 timeframe.” Despite those efforts, it’s “extremely difficult” for Vizio to transfer production to other third countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, “without significant cost” that would “far exceed” the “modest profit margin,” it said. That would “likely” result in a “significant price increase to American consumers,” it said. “Responsibly exploring alternatives to manufacturing, without sacrificing quality, safety, and the low prices that define our brand takes considerable time.” List 4A tariffs took effect Sept. 1 at 15 percent, but are due to be rolled back by half (see 1912310010).
The International Trade Commission is working to add provisions on the Trade Agreement between the United States and Japan to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., James Holbein, director of the ITC’s Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements, said in an interview Jan. 7. Technical issues with the ITC’s electronic system for updating the tariff schedule had led to the omission of new General Note 36, as well as provisions in chapter 99, from the 2020 Basic Edition of the HTS, Holbein said. The ITC’s information technology office is currently working to fix those issues, he said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 30 - Jan. 3 in case they were missed.
For five months in 2018, it looked like Chinese injection molds were going to cost 25 percent more because of Section 301 tariffs, and the import volume from China in 2018 fell nearly 12 percent, to $385 million. Overall imports of injection molds -- which were valued at $1.8 billion in 2018 -- rose 5 percent that year.
Three dozen witnesses are scheduled to testify Jan. 7 on the appropriateness of levying tariffs on French handbags, makeup, champagne, enamel cookware, cheese, butter and yogurt in retaliation for a proposed digital services tax -- and some of the organizations that represent the companies that would be most affected by the tax are not asking for tariffs. In fact, only the National Milk Producers Federation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Baker McKenzie say that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should use tariffs to pressure France to abandon a DST.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2019 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative issued some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China, according to a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to the agency’s website Dec. 31 (see 2001020013). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions include products from the third list of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions "are reflected in 2 ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and 66 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 81 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice.
CBP has not updated ACE yet with the extensions granted to six Section 301 exclusions that were set to expire on Dec. 28, the agency said in a CSMS message. “CBP expects the update to be soon after 1/2/2020 and will provide an update when programming is complete and ready to accept transmission of HTS 9903.88.05 on entries with entry dates beyond 12/28/2019,” CBP said. Twenty-five of the original set of Section 301 exclusions expired on Dec. 28 (see 1912190060).