The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that there will be an exclusion process for Chinese products subject to Section 301 tariffs, according to the Auto Care Association.

Effective July 6, the federal government assessed an additional 25% tariff will be assessed on 818 products – including certain tires and equipment – imported from China. This covers a trade value of approximately $34 billion in 2018. The listed HTS codes include both light duty and heavy duty products.

The Federal Register notice outlines the criteria and process for a product exclusion request. In making its determination on each request, USTR may consider whether a product is available from a source outside of China, whether the additional duties would cause severe economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests and whether the particular product is strategically important or related to Chinese industrial programs including “Made in China 2025.”

A copy of the product exclusion request form can be found here.

Important dates and deadlines:

• The public will have 90 days to file a request for a product exclusion; the request period will end on Oct. 9.
• Following the public posting of the filed request on regulations.gov, the public will have 14 days to file responses to the request for product exclusion. After the close of the 14-day response period, interested persons will have an additional seven days to reply to any responses received in support of or opposition to the request.
• Exclusions will be effective for one year upon the publication of the exclusion determination in the Federal Register and will apply retroactively to July 6, 2018.

Exclusions will be made on a product basis and will apply to all imports of the product, regardless of whether the importer filed a request. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will apply the tariff exclusions based on the product.

Also, the USTR released a second (Annex C) and third list of products that have been recommended to be added to the tariff list. These proposed products will undergo a review process, including a comment period and public hearing. Written comments regarding the impact of tariffs on these lists of products are due July 23 and Aug. 17, respectively.

Let the Auto Care Association know if you are impacted by the proposed action or if you have any questions.