Of 140 tariff subheadings CTA urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative June 17 to remove from List 4, the association won 37 deferrals to Dec. 15 in key product areas like smartphones, laptops and tablets and PC monitors when the final lists were released Tuesday (see 1908130058). The rest face 10 percent levies when the duties on the newly configured List 4A take effect Sept. 1. JLab Audio didn't get reprieve now. CEO Win Cramer was hit like “a kick in the gut,” he emailed us. He's “unsure and confused” why USTR “decided at one point to agree with us” earlier that Bluetooth headphones didn’t belong on the tariffs list “and then turn course,” he said. USTR didn’t comment Wednesday.
About 10 comments from associations and companies that would be affected by France's digital services tax backed U.S. concern, many saying there's a discriminatory DST intent against American companies. Some told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in advance testimony that U.S. tariffs on French imports aren't the way to fix the problem. Sixteen filings in USTR-2019-0009 were posted through this week. A USTR hearing is set for Monday (see 1907150037).
Five of the top eight consumer tech product categories in terms of 2018 customs value temporarily escaped 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure at least until Dec. 15 (see 1908130015), well after imports will have arrived for the peak holiday selling season, per Office of the U.S. Trade Representative documents released Tuesday. Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, smart speakers and finished TVs from China face immediate 10 percent tariff exposure Sept. 1.
The tranche of tariffs the Trump administration Tuesday morning announced it will delay to Dec. 15 are the 10 percent List 4 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors. Earlier this morning, we incorrectly reported the tranche.
The Trump administration will delay to Dec. 15 the 10 percent List 3 Section 301 tariffs on smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles and computer monitors, announced the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Tuesday morning. Delaying the tariffs on those articles appears certain to spare the consumer tech industry from passalong price increases during the peak holiday selling season. It bears watching whether the delay will prompt a rush on shipments of those items from China, as U.S. importers scramble to beat the higher duties. There was no immediate word on the fate of other products the tech industry targeted for List 4 removal, including TVs, smart speakers, smartwatches and Bluetooth headphones. Other products are being removed from List 4 entirely, “based on health, safety, national security and other factors,” said USTR. The full and final List 4 will appear on the USTR website Tuesday, it said. USTR will install a List 4 exclusion process for products with immediate tariff exposure, it said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer shouldn’t include certain copyright infringement liability protections for online platforms in trade deals, the Free State Foundation blogged Thursday. FSF cited the “ineffective” Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act covering a notice and takedown process for when online service providers receive limited liability protection for hosting infringing content and activity. “Congress needs to reexamine Section 512 as a matter of modernizing U.S. domestic law to reduce illegal copyright infringement,” before including it in trade deals, wrote FSF. It cited a similar request for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from the House Commerce Committee (see 1908060064).
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer shouldn’t include Section 230-like protections in trade deals, given ongoing policy discussions about the tech industry's liability shield, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., wrote Tuesday.
China vowed Friday to retaliate if the Trump administration carries out its threat to impose the 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports not previously dutied (see 1908010059). If the U.S. “imposes tariff measures and implements them” as threatened Sept. 1, “China will have to take necessary countermeasures to resolutely defend the core interests of the country and the fundamental interests of the people,” said a Commerce Ministry spokesperson. “All the consequences will be borne by the US.”
Questions abound about President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to put 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariffs into effect on Chinese imports Sept. 1. Since Trump can’t legally impose List 4 by tweets, all eyes will await the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice soon to be published in the Federal Register detailing which product categories, if any, are spared from the final duties.
President Donald Trump appeared to put the kibosh on Apple’s requests for List 3 Section 301 tariff exclusions on Chinese imports of graphics processing modules, power supplies, heat sinks and a dozen other types of components for the Mac Pro desktop due this fall. Tweeted Trump Friday: “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!” There are “no other sources” outside China “for this proprietary, Apple-designed component,” said Apple in each of the 15 product exclusion requests it filed July 18, as searchable Thursday on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative public docket. “This product is a component of a consumer electronic device,” said Apple. “It is not strategically important or related to ‘Made in China 2025' or other Chinese industrial programs.” Public responses in support or opposition to the exclusion requests are due Aug. 1, and Apple had few backers among those who weighed in with an opinion through Friday. “USTR should not set a harmful precedent of exempting companies from tariffs that move jobs to an overt adversary of the United States,” commented Gregory Lewandowski on Apple’s request for tariff exclusions on Mac Pro graphics processing modules. “This is absolute garbage,” commented Logan Marotz of I.E. Productions. “We cannot continue to bend to the will of these companies. They knew the possible consequences of their actions by moving their assembly factories over seas. Tough luck, but this is the game they play.” Apple reportedly is shifting Mac Pro assembly to a contract manufacturer near Shanghai; that it's seeking tariff exclusions on imported parts suggests it's still doing final assembly in Texas, as it did with previous generations of Mac Pro desktops. Apple didn’t comment Friday, nor did USTR on Trump's tweet. Trump also targeted French President Emmanuel Macron Friday and France's initiation of a digital service tax, on which USTR launched a Section 301 investigation July 10. "France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies," tweeted Trump. "If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the USA. We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly. I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!"