Tooday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a CSMS message with guidance for the List 4A tariff reduction which will take effect on February 14 – CSMS #41538917 – GUIDANCE: Decrease in Section 301 Duties on Certain Products of China; $300B-Action -Tranche 4A. Details of this message are posted below:

Cargo Systems Messaging Service

  CSMS #41538917 – GUIDANCE: Decrease in Section 301 Duties on Certain Products of China; $300B-Action -Tranche 4A

On August 20, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a Modification of Section 301 Action in 84 FR 43304 introducing another imposition of additional tariffs on products of China with an annual trade value of approximately $300 billion which is referred to as Tranche 4. The tariff subheadings subject to additional duties under Tranche 4 are separated into two lists with different effective dates – List 1, Trance 4A, covered by Annexes A and B, became effective September 1, 2019. The tariff subheadings subject to additional duties under list two (Tranche 4B) are addressed in Annexes C and D.

On January 22, 2020, USTR published in the Federal Register (85 FR 3714) the determination to modify the action being taken in the Section 301 Investigation for the additional duty rate to decrease from 15 percent to 7.5 percent for the products of China covered by the $300 billion tariff action Tranche 4/Annex A. Additionally, the assessment of additional duties on products of Annex C of the $300 billion section 301 trade remedy are suspended indefinitely per 84 FR 69447 (December 18, 2019).

GUIDANCE:
Products Covered by Tranche 4, Annex A (Described in Annex B) –
duty decrease from 15 percent ad valorem to 7.5 percent, effective February 14, 2020

Per 85 FR 3714, the decrease in import duties for Chinese goods covered by the Tranche 4, Annex A list of products subject to the Section 301 action are effective with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 AM eastern daylight time on February 14, 2020.

Any article classified in a subheading covered by Annex A that is a product of China and that is entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after February 14, 2020 is subject to the decreased Section 301 ad valorem duty rate of 7.5 percent, in addition to the general (Column 1) rate of duty for the imported merchandise. Therefore, in addition to any regular chapter reporting requirements, the following HTS number and duty rate must be reported:

 HTS                     Duty Rate 

9903.88.15           7.5 percent

Merchandise covered by Tranche 4A/Annex A that was admitted to a foreign trade zone under Privileged Foreign status will be subject to tariff classification at the rate of duty and tax in force on the date of filing the application for privileged foreign status. See 19 CFR 146.65(a)(1).

Immediate delivery procedures are not applicable.

For more information related to the decrease in duties imposed on the tariff subheadings for the products of China covered by the $300 billion tariff action Tranche 4, Annex A, refer to 85 FR 3714, issued January 22, 2020.

For questions on this and other trade remedy issues, please see Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) #40969690 – Information on Trade Remedy Questions and Resources.

Best regards

Gemini Shippers Group