The US Trade Representative’s office has reinstated 352 expired product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports – well short of the 549 exclusions that it had been considering earlier.
The reinstated exclusions will be effective retroactively from October 12 last year and extend to December 31. 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%
A spokesperson at China’s commerce ministry said the US decision was beneficial to normalizing the trade flow of those products and hoped bilateral trade relations would get back on a normal track.
The Trump administration initially granted more than 2,200 exclusions on the tariffs to provide relief to industries and retailers. Most were allowed to expire, but 549 were extended for a year, and they expired at the end of 2020.
US trade representative Katherine Tai last October launched a review of whether to reinstate those 549 exclusions as part of her strategy to confront China on its trade practices.
