USTR calls for comments on continuation of China Section 301 tariffs

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USTR calls for comments on continuation of China Section 301 tariffs

03 November 2022

On 8 September 2022, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the actions arising from the Section 301 investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation would continue in light of hundreds of requests that USTR had received. In October 2022, as part of the four-year continuation review of the Section 301 tariffs, USTR issued its formal notice seeking public comments on (1) the effectiveness of the actions in achieving USTR’s objectives, (2) other actions that could be taken, and (3) the effects of such actions on the U.S. economy, including consumers. USTR will be accepting comments from interested stakeholders as early as 15 November 2022, with a final submittal deadline of 17 January 2023.

On 1 November 2022, USTR released additional information on its comprehensive review, which comprise a Preview of Questions for Four-Year Review Docket (“Preview”). The Preview provides a full list of the questions in the four-year review docket, and guidance on submission logistics.

Submission Logistics

The docket title is “Request for Comments: Four-Year Review of Actions in Sec. 301. Inv. Of China”, and the Docket ID is USTR-2022-0014.

The questions in the docket are separated into three sections and invite stakeholders to provide views concerning the Section 301 actions. Interested stakeholders are invited to comment on one or more sections.

The guidance issued by USTR provides procedures for the submission of Business Confidential Information (BCI) with respect to some questions. The Preview also envisions optional submission of attachments accompanying comments.

Overview of the Questions

Consistent with USTR’s previous Federal Register notice, the Preview is divided to three sections 1) Section A invites comments regarding effectiveness of the Section 301 actions at an economy-wide level; 2) Section B focuses on the impact on various sectors and industries; and 3) Section C invites comments on specific tariff headings.

Section A Economy-Wide Level Comments

There are 8 questions addressing the following issues:

Whether the Section 301 actions have been effective in eliminating China’s acts, polices, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovations since 2018;
Whether modification(s) should be made to the current Section 301 actions;
Impact of the Section 301 actions on US economy at large;
Other actions that can be taken under Section 301.

Section B Sector/Industry-Level Comments

There are 9 questions addressing the following issues:

The extent to which the Section 301 actions cover goods within a particular sector or industry;
Whether the Section 301 actions are effective on the sector/industry level;
Impact of the actions on the sector and industry;
Other sector/industry specific actions that could be taken under Section 301.

Section C Tariff Headings Comments

Section C permits commenters to identify particular tariff lines and comment on whether tariffs should be removed, maintained, or added, to those lines. Commenters are asked to address the following issues:

Whether a specific tariff line identified by a commenter should remain covered by the Section 301 actions;
The effects of maintaining tariffs on the identified tariff line;
The impact of removing tariffs from the identified tariff line;
The impact on the U.S. economy, small businesses, and consumers of any change to whether tariffs apply to a particular line;
Whether any tariff lines not currently covered by the actions should be covered.

Next steps

Hogan Lovells can help you evaluate the impact of these tariffs on your business. For information on these and other tariff issues, please reach out to any of the Hogan Lovells contacts listed above.

Authored by Deen Kaplan, Ben Kostrzewa, Craig Lewis, Warren Maruyama, Chandri Navarro, Kelly Ann Shaw, Jonathan Stoel, Jared Wessel, Roy Zou, Michael Jacobson, Nicholas Laneville, and Kelly Zhang.