In a soon to be published Federal Register Notice, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a proposed additional ad valorem duty of up to 25 percent on products from China with an annual trade value of an estimated $300 billion. The proposed product list (“List 4”) is located in the Annex to the notice and covers 3,805 full and partial tariff subheadings. The USTR indicated in a press release that these proposed tariffs cover “essentially all remaining imports from China.”
USTR is seeking public comment and will hold a public hearing. The schedule is listed below.
| Date | Event |
| June 10 | Due date for filing requests to appear and a summary of expected testimony at the public hearing |
| June 17 | Due date for submission of written comments |
| June 17 | Public Hearing |
| 7 days after the last public hearing | Due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments (post-hearing rebuttal comments are to be limited to rebutting or supplementing testimony at the hearing) |
USTR is requesting comments with respect to any aspect of the proposed action, including:
- The specific tariff subheadings to be subject to increased duties, including whether the subheadings listed in the Annex should be retained or removed, or whether subheadings not currently on the list should be added.
- The level of the increase, if any, in the rate of duty.
- The appropriate aggregate level of trade to be covered by additional duties.
Also, the USTR “requests that commenters address specifically whether imposing increased duties on a particular product would be practicable or effective to obtain the elimination of China’s acts, policies, and practices, and whether imposing additional duties on a particular product would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests, including small- or medium-size businesses and consumers.”
The notice describes the process for submitting comments. The docket number for this action on regulations.gov is USTR 2019-0004.
Companies are allowed to submit comments with Business Confidential information which will not be viewable by the public.