FILE PHOTO: U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai speaks to members of the media following a tour of a silicon wafer plant being expanded by South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Siltron CSS, in Bay City, Michigan, U.S., March 16, 2022. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
March 23, 2022
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Wednesday it has reinstated 352 expired product exclusions from U.S. “Section 301” tariffs on Chinese imports, well short of the 549 exclusions that it was previously considering.
The reinstated product exclusions https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/notices/FRN%20for%20Notice%20of%20Reinstatement.pdf will be effective retroactively from Oct. 12, 2021 and extend through Dec. 31, 2022, USTR said. They cover a wide range of the initially estimated $370 billion worth of Chinese imports that former president Donald Trump hit with punitive tariffs of 7.5% to 25%.
The list released by USTR includes industrial components such as pumps and electric motors, certain car parts and chemicals, backpacks, bicycles, vacuum cleaners and other consumer goods.
The Trump administration initially had granted more than 2,200 exclusions to the tariffs to provide relief to certain industries and retailers. Most were allowed to expire, but 549 were extended for a year, and these expired at he end of 2020.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last October had launched a review of whether to reinstate those 549 exclusions as part of her strategy to confront China on its trade practices.
A series of virtual meetings with her Chinese counterparts since then yielded little improvement in China’s performance under Trump’s “Phase 1” trade agreement with Beijing.
(Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Editing by David Gregorio)
