US Announces to Continue Punitive Tariffs on Imports from Communist China

On Sep 2nd, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the continuation of punitive tariffs imposed by Trump administration on imported commodities from Communist China and the launch of review process to investigate the related issue.

The Biden administration commenced the statutory four-year review of tariffs on products of Communist China this May and sought advice of domestic industries. Pursuant to the statute, only one request received by the authority will trigger the review and continuation of tariffs.

The USTR’s Office has received 434 requests for extensions from U.S. enterprises and trade associations in two months. The reasons include the tariff could provide an incentive for the CCP government to stop specific harmful policies and practices and allow U.S. companies to compete with Chinese imports, invest in new technologies, expand domestic production, and hire additional labors. U.S. enterprise representatives also believed that punitive tariffs have created more leverage to prompt the CCP to abolish improper policies and measures and help address unfair competition resulting from the CCP’s technology transfer.

The USTR’s Office said the U.S. would embark on the review of tariff on Communist China and invite concerned parties including consumers, to provide comments on the effectiveness of the tariff measures, the impact on the US economy, as well as other actions that may be taken.

The punitive tariff on the Communist China started in 2018 when the Trump administration waged a trade war against the CCP and imposed punitive duties ranging from 7.5% to 25% on a total of about $370 billion of imports from Communist China. The relevant measures reached their respective four-year anniversary dates on July 6th, 2022 and Aug 23rd, 2022.