The United States Trade Representative has announced that the Section 301 product exclusion petition process for articles included on List 3 will open on June 30, 2019 and close on September 30, 2019. A full copy of this notice includes additional details. Although USTR has modified the process in this round by requiring more information, it remains largely the same as for List 1 and List 2.
In order for an exclusion to be eligible, companies must identify a specific product and provide the rationale for why the exclusion should be granted (whether the product is available from sources other than China, whether the requestor has attempted to source the product from outside China, whether the imposition of duties will cause ‘severe economic harm’ to the requestor or other U.S. interests, whether the product is strategically important to China’s ‘Made in Chain 2025’). Approvals that are granted for List 3 in this round will be retroactive to the date the duties first went into effect at the 10% rate (September 24, 2018) and will be valid for one year.
As previously announced, PESA will file an individual product exclusion request with USTR for Member Companies who import products on the list for a single charge of $3,000 per request. The request will be filed by PESA on behalf of the requesting company. Each exclusion will be prepared by trade attorneys trained in the USTR exclusion process. Should one of these individual product exclusion request be accepted by USTR, imports of this specific product will be exempt from the new 25% tariffs.
If your company is interested in filing a 301 exclusion requests for List 3 please contact Vice President Government Affairs Tim Tarpley as soon as possible for additional details and to begin the process. While not officially announced, given the high volume of requests expected, it is logical to assume that there is some benefit to filing the requests as close to June 30 as possible.
