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Today, June 15th, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that beginning July 6th, CBP would  collect 25% duty on a list of just over 1100 HTS numbers from China. The agency produced its first list at the end of April and after hearings and public comment, removed several hundred numbers from the list.

The list announced today is a combination of approximately 800+ numbers representing $34 billion in imported value from that first list and nearly 300 additional numbers representing an additional $16 billion. The second list must still go through the same comment and review process.

The first list is here. The second proposed list, here.

Note that these actions are being taken not by CBP, but by the U.S.TR in response to an unfair trade practices investigation initiated by the administration.

Shortly after this announcement, the Chinese government announced that it would retaliate and provide its own list of products that will be subject to additional duties including a list of U.S. agricultural products.

The Washington Post today reported on China’s near-immediate response:

In a late-night statement, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would impose trade barriers of the “same scale and the same strength,” and that Trump’s tariffs were “damaging” relations and “undermining the world trade order.”

Coppersmith is placed in the position of Customs brokers and freight forwarders around the United States which is to advise our importers to review their HTS numbers for matches to these two lists and for our exporters to contact their China buyers to inquire about whether or not their goods face potential retaliatory action.

We will continue to monitor the events and provide resources for our customers to stay abreast of the situation

Click here for the website of the U.S. Trade Representative.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has an English-language version of their site and the section devoted to the U.S. – China trade conflict can be found here.

 

 

Bobby Shaida

Author Bobby Shaida

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