Within the last 24 hours, the U.S. and China slapped new tariffs on additional product categories, escalating the continuing trade war between the two nations.

On Monday, Sept. 17, President Trump announced tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods from China, on top of the $50 billion already taxed earlier this year. The next wave of tariffs (List 3) is subject to additional duties under Section 301 of the Trade Act and is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 24 at a tax rate of 10%  — before climbing to 25% on Jan. 1. Shipments of goods under the new round of tariffs must arrive in the U.S. – and an entry form must be filed – by September 23 in order to avoid the 10% increase on applicable items.

The new product categories affected include electronics, food, tools and housewares. Some product categories removed from the first two proposed lists, after industry objections were raised, include smart watches, Bluetooth devices, certain chemical inputs, bicycle helmets, car seats and playpens. While no exclusion process has yet been issued by USTR for this third list, exclusion requests for List 1 are due by October 9, 2018, and by December 18, 2018 for items on List 2.

Under Section 301, country of origin and date of entry determine whether the goods are affected. For example, if goods are made in China but shipped from Hong Kong or Taiwan, they will still be taxed at the new rate. And brokers may request that the date of arrival be the date of entry.  If you have any questions on managing the entry filing or other parts of the process, please contact us. 

Nearly half of all Chinese imports into the U.S. will soon face levies.

The President also said he was prepared to immediately place tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports if China “takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries.”

On September 18, China announced it was imposing new trade tariffs on $460 billion worth of American goods, beginning September 24.  Included are products such as liquefied natural gas, although at lower rates than expected; plus an additional 5% in duty on U.S. products including smaller aircraft, computers and textiles and an extra 10% on chemicals, wheat, meat and wine.

See list 3 HERE for the product categories affected by the new U.S. tariffs.