CLIENT ALERT: Be aware of new exclusions & expirations

301 Exclusions for Round 4A Announced

The USTR has announced a list of 61 limited exclusions for products covered by Round 4A of the Section 301 Tariffs for China origin goods. This exclusion set has a very short effective period as the scheduled expiration date is September 1, 2020. As with all of the exclusion lists, it is retroactive to the starting date of the tariffs, September 1, 2019.

Provisional tariff number 9903.88.51 has been assigned for use with these exclusions and the list can be found at the link below. If you are importing goods from China please review this list to see if you can benefit from one or more of these exclusions.

A Limited Number or Exclusion Extensions Have Been Granted

The USTR announced a set of extensions covering certain goods found on Exclusions List 6. These exclusions cover products on Round 1 of the Section 301 additional tariffs imposed on China origin goods. The original exclusion list, released one year ago, had consisted of 110 granted exclusions and was assigned a July 9, 2020 expiration date. Only 12 of the exclusions were granted an extension, leaving nearly 100 eligible for the 25 percent tariffs. The provisional number assigned to the extended exclusions is 9903.88.52 and are now scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020.

Click for links to the new extension list or to the original exclusion list.

Exclusions Set to Expire

As of today, the USTR issued 31 sets of exclusions to Section 301 tariffs. Each of these lists were issued with specific expiration dates. So far, six of these sets have already expired, with the next due to expire July 31.

While extensions have been granted to some of the published exclusions, the vast majority of the exclusions were allowed to expire. The expiration of an exclusion results in the return of the 7.5 percent or 25 percent additional tariffs for the product. The pace of these expirations is about to pick up significantly.

This will cover most of the exclusions granted to products found on Round 3 and will include all exclusions covering furniture and lamps. While extensions are possible, the percentage of products granted an extension is very small.

If you currently benefit from the Section 301 exclusions, we strongly recommend that you review the status of your products now. Our free Exclusion Guide includes the expiration date for all of the exclusion sets and is a great tool to find the status of your exclusion, or even the existence of an undiscovered exclusion: Go to CVI's Exclusion Guide 2020 (view on desktop for optimal search).

GSP is Scheduled to Expire on December 31

The popular Generalized System of Preferences trade agreement is set to expire at the end of the year and a decision on renewal is still pending. This agreement provides for duty free or reduced duty treatment for roughly 5,000 products from dozens of developing countries. This program was last renewed in March 2018, and has historically received bipartisan support in Congress and wide support from business groups. However, US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, has stated that the administration has not decided whether to push for renewal this year and he plans to assess ways to reform it.

Authorized by the Trade Act of 1974 and implemented in 1976, this program was established to promote growth in developing countries. Over the years, GSP has seen many changes, as member countries have lost eligibility due to their improved export economies, and products have been added or removed. Recently, the US removed eligibility for both Turkey and India. While the program has on occasion in past years been allowed to expire, it has always been renewed retroactively. More information on the efforts to renew GSP can be found at the website for the Coalition for GSP.

Need an overview of all the exclusions and their expirations?

Go to CVI's Exclusion Guide 2020 (view on desktop for optimal search).

Sam McClure, LCB
Director of Compliance & Customs Services
smcclure@cvinternational.com