Trade War Updates

It has been a time of turmoil and uncertainty in the world of international trade. Changes have been coming fast and furious and in this brief post we’d like to update you on where things stand today.

Two new lists of products subject to additional duty have been issued. List 4A has taken effect on Sept. 1^st and products on this list are subject to additional duty of 15% if they are imported from China. Items on List 4B will be subject to this same duty amount effective Dec. 15^th. At this time no indication has been made as to whether or not the Administration will allow importers to file duty exclusions for products on these two lists.

List 4A can be found here – https://www.strtrade.com/assets/htmldocuments/USTR%20301%20List%204A.pdf

List 4B can be found here – https://www.strtrade.com/assets/htmldocuments/USTR%20301%20List%204B.pdf

Here is an important reminder – if you have goods on List 3 (25% additional duty soon to rise to 30% on Oct. 1st) and you wish to request an exclusion from these additional duties for your products you have a limited time to file the exclusion request. The deadline is Sept. 30^th and it can take weeks to draft a properly worded request so now is the time to take action. We can help you with this process – please contact us for further information and guidance.

The potential for additional duties to be assessed against products from other countries exists too. There is serious consideration of assessing additional duties against products from France due to a disagreement over the digital services tax in that country and there is the continuing risk of additional tariffs against products from other European countries due to the case against government assistance for Airbus.

Things are likely to stay turbulent in the days ahead, we’ll do all we can to keep you posted.

Please contact us today with your questions. We can assist you in looking at ways you might be able to eliminate or mitigate your company’s exposure to these additional duties. Email us at info@tradelogicintl.com