Over the last several months, there have been a number of key updates to S232 Tariffs and S301 Tariffs Lists 1-3. In addition, the United States and China continue to hold trade talks. Last week in Beijing, key officials from the United States and China outlined a “10-item list of ways China can reduce its trade surplus with the US."

In addition, lower-level US government officials held a round of talks in Washington, DC on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were joined on Thursday by top level negotiators, led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

The March 1 deadline is quickly approaching and both countries want to reach an agreement before the List 3 planned tariff increase takes place.

S232 Tariffs: These tariffs began on March 23, 2018. Steel tariffs were set at 25 percent for all countries except Australia, which is exempt. Argentina, Brazil and South Korea are subject to an absolute quota. Aluminum was set at 10 percent from all countries except Australia, which is exempt. Argentina is subject to an absolute quota.

Please note that steel imports from Turkey are currently incurring a 50 percent tariff and aluminum imports from Turkey are currently incurring a 20 percent tariff.

Exclusions For S232 Tariffs: Thousands of requests have been made to the DOC for exclusion from S232 tariffs. 42 exclusion requests were granted in June 2018. As of January 1, 2019, approximately 75 percent of the 19,000 requests have been granted. There are 9,000 exclusion requests that are still pending; for those requests, 15,000 objections have been filed against them.

S301 List 1: 25 percent tariffs began on July 2018 for $34 billion worth of goods. As of January 1, 2019, 10,830 exclusion requests have been granted and 1,731 exclusion requests have been denied.

S301 List 2: 25 percent tariffs began on August 2018 for $16 billion worth of goods. Over 2,500 exclusion requests have been posted as of January 1, 2019. No exclusion requests have been granted.

S301 List 3: 10 percent tariffs began on September 2018 for $200 billion worth of goods. Tariffs were set to increase to 25 percent on January 1, 2019, but the increase was postponed due to additional scheduled trade talks between the US and China.

The tariffs are now scheduled to increase to 25 percent on March 2, 2019 unless a significant trade deal is reached. Negotiators are drawing up six memorandums of understanding on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, according to two sources familiar with the progress of the talks.

Congress has requested that the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) create the formal exclusion process for products outlined under the S301 List 3 tariffs. These tariffs for $200 billion worth of imports from China are scheduled to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent on March 2, 2019.

With the signing of the latest appropriations legislation on February 15, 2019, Congress has given the USTR a directive to establish an exclusion process for List 3 goods. This process must be presented to Congress by March 17, 2019.

If you have additional questions, please contact us or reach out to your Ascent Global Logistics representative directly.