Overnight, the Chinese government retaliated for the planned imposition of 10% Section 301 duties on List 4A and List 4B by putting an extra 5 - 10% on approximately $75 billion worth of US exports to China on an identical timetable. The President took to Twitter this morning and was upset with China's action and spent the day in consultation with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his chief economic advisors. The result late this afternoon was an announced planned increase of all Section 301 duties being collected on Chinese origin products that have not already been excluded.
Here are the details:
- As advised by the USTR and the President, Lists 1, 2 and 3 for which an additional 25% in duty was being collected will be increased by 5% effective October 1st and will then be 30%.
- List 4, which was split into 4A and 4B which were slated to collect 10% additional duties beginning September 1st and December 15th, respectively, will be increased by 5% and will now be 15% with the same effective dates of imposition.
We are continuing to monitor the story, but based on what has happened to date, it is highly probable that by the time we reach December 15th for the start of List 4B, things will have changed again.
