Over the weekend, the US Administration announced that it would postpone increasing S301 List 3 tariffs. The United States and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to meet to reach a final trade agreement.

US President Donald Trump has called trade negotiations with China "very productive." He also went on to say that he is pleased that the United States and China continue to make progress on trade talks. As a result of addressing important structural issues such as intellectual property protection and technology transfer, the US Administration plans to host a trade summit with China at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Because of this postponement, the Harmonized Tariff System must be updated this week to properly reflect the 10 percent continued tariff for List 3 items. ABI software providers must wait for the official announcement from Customs before they can update the software used by brokers to submit entries to customs. While the hope is that this announcement will be forthcoming today or tomorrow, the system cannot be changed until the announcement is made.

Any entries processed with a March 1, 2019 entry date or IT date will show List 3 items subject to the 25 percent until the system is updated. Customs brokers may postpone submitting entries to customs until this update is made. Please work with your brokers on any concerns or expedited entries you may have.