On December 13, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the United States and China have reached an agreement on a Phase One trade deal. Under the trade deal, the US will not impose the additional 15% tariff on Section 301 List 4B goods, which was set to go into effect on December 15. Additionally, the US has also agreed to reduce the additional tariff rate on List 4A from 15% to 7.5%. This reduction will take 30 days to take into effect after the agreement is signed, which is said to be sometime in early January 2020.
In return, China has agreed to make changes to its economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange. Additionally, the agreement includes China’s commitment to make “substantial” additional purchases of US goods and services in the next two years.
As more information is released, we will update this story.
Source: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. (ST&R)
Update (1/17/20 )
U.S. & China Sign Phase One Trade Agreement
On January 15, 2020, the U.S. and China signed phase one of a trade agreement under which the U.s. will suspend some tariff increases and will roll back others in return for China agreeing to make economic and trade regime changes.
According to a notice from the Office of The United States Trade Representative (USTR), the additional tariff on Section 301 List 4A goods from China will be reduced from 15% to 7.5% as of February 14, 2020. Exclusions for List 4A goods must be filed by January 1, 2020.
For a full list of goods affected by this change, click here.
The U.S. will maintain 25% tariffs on Section 301 Lists 1, 2, and 3 for now.
Source: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. (ST&R)