On Sept. 17, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released a list of approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that will be subject to additional tariffs. In accordance with the direction of President Trump, the additional tariffs will be effective starting Sept. 24, and initially will be in the amount of 10 percent. Starting Jan. 1, 2019, the level of the additional tariffs will increase to 25 percent.
In announcing the additional goods being subject to tariffs, the USTR stated that this action is “part of the United States’ continuing response to China’s theft of American intellectual property and forced transfer of American technology.”
The list contains 5,745 full or partial lines of the original 6,031 tariff lines that were on a proposed list of Chinese imports announced on July 10. Changes to the proposed list were made after USTR and the interagency Section 301 Committee sought and received comments over a six-week period and testimony during a six-day public hearing in August.
USTR said it engaged in a “thorough process to rigorously examine the comments and testimony” and, as a result, determined to fully or partially remove 297 tariff lines from the original proposed list. Included 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.
Among the automotive related items included on the list are a number of types of belts, tires, chemicals, raw materials and other products.
Click here to view the final tariff list.
