U.S Customs has issued a clarification on when the 90-day clock begins on the suspension of increasing the Section 301 tariffs. The 90-day pause in implementing increased Section 301 tariffs started on December 1, 2018 and is set to expire on March 1, 2019. We will advise our clients once additional information is issued.

Original Notice:

Over the weekend, the United states and China have agreed to temporarily suspend any increases in the Section 301 Tariffs for the 3rd list of items that are currently at 10% duty increase. The suspension will only apply to the 10% duties that were scheduled to increase to 25% as of January 1, 2019. All other Section 301 tariffs will not be effected.

U.S., China Reach Deal to Suspend Section 301 Tariff Increase on $200 Billion in Goods

Section 301 tariffs on certain Chinese goods will remain at 10 percent after Jan. 1, after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a deal to suspend the tariff increase, said the White House in a statement. Under the agreement, concluded Dec. 1 at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, China will purchase “a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial” amount of agricultural, energy and industrial goods.

The third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods had been set to increase to 25 percent after the new year. China also “agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately,” the statement said. The deal appears to only affect the third set of tariffs, and not the first and second tranches that are already set at 25 percent.

The U.S. and China will also “immediately” begin negotiations “on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture,” the statement said. “Both parties agree that they will endeavor to have this transaction completed within the next 90 days. If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%,” it said.

Sincerely,