On June 19, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published a process for requests to exclude products from the third list of Section 301 trade remedies.
List 3 of the Section 301 trade remedies went into effect in September 2018 and included approximately $200 billion in annual trade value of products of Chinese origin. The USTR will open an electronic portal for U.S. stakeholders to submit exclusion requests on June 30, 2019 and all exclusion requests must be submitted by the deadline of September 30, 2019. Users must register at the online portal at http://exclusions.USTR.gov and may then submit the exclusion requests on the site.
According to the notice, the following information should be included in any request:
· Contact information, including full legal name of the organization making the request;
· The 10-digit subheading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS);
· Product name and a detailed description;
· The products function, application, principal use, and any unique physical features;
· The requester’s relationship to the product (Such as importer, producer, purchaser, etc.);
· Specific data on the annual quantity and value of the Chinese-origin product, domestic product, and third country product that the requester purchased in 2017, 2018, and first quarter 2019;
· The requesting company’s gross revenues for 2018, the first quarter of 2018, and the first quarter of 2019;
· Percentage of the total gross sales in 2018 that the product accounted for;
· Whether the product is available only from China or if there is a comparable product in the U.S. or another country;
· Whether the requester attempted to source the product from the U.S. or another country;
· If the additional duty would cause severe economic harm to the requester or other U.S. interests;
· Whether the product is strategically important or related to the “Made in China 2025” program.
The USTR directs any questions about the product exclusion process to the USTR Assistant General Counsels Philip Butler or Megan Grimball at (202) 395-5725.
Additional details on the exclusion process may be found on the USTR’s website here:
