The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes (DSTs) that were either adopted or under consideration by multiple governments, the agency said in a June 2 news release. The investigations are focused on Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, it said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes that were either adopted or under consideration by multiple governments, the agency said in a June 2 news release. The investigations are focused on Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, it said.
The International Trade Commission recently issued two more revisions to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement extended and new exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on China. In Revision 11, issued May 29, the ITC implemented new exclusions from List 3 tariffs under U.S. Note 20(aaa) and subheading 9903.88.48 (see 2005220020). The agency also removed two list 4 exclusions (see 2005270022), and extended some exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs that had been set to expire May 14 (see 2005130003), according to the change record.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is requesting comments on whether three sets of tariff exclusions granted to Chinese imports on Section 301 List 3 that are set to expire Aug. 7, 2020, should be extended for up to another year, it said in a notice. The agency already requested comments on 11 other sets of exclusions that expire the same day (see 2005010030). The agency will start accepting comments on the extensions on June 8. The comments are due by July 7, it said. Each exclusion will be evaluated independently. The focus of the evaluation will be whether, despite the first imposition of these additional duties in September 2018, the particular product remains available only from China. The companies are required to post a public rationale.
China reportedly ordered its state-controlled companies to stop buying certain U.S. agricultural products after the U.S. certified last week that Hong Kong no longer qualifies for special trade treatment. The decision also came after President Donald Trump said the U.S. will sanction Chinese officials, increase export controls on dual-use technologies, and end the special customs territory in response to Beijing’s so-called national security law (see 2005290047), which the State Department said threatens Hong Kong’s autonomy (see 2005270026).
Correction: Recently granted Section 301 tariff exclusion extensions (see 2005130003) expire at the end of 2020.
In the May 20 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 54, No. 19), CBP published notices that propose to revoke rulings and similar treatment for wireless speakers.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant extensions to 16 exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire June 4, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The exclusions that weren't extended will expire June 4.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP added on May 21 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the fourth tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published on May 8 (see 2005110027). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.47. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 1, 2019, and will remain in effect until Sept. 1, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.