June 18, 2019: China Tariffs Update

President Trump’s tariff policy toward China continues with hearings on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports kicking off this week. Now, with four different lists of products targeted for tariffs, and all at different stages in the process, the tariff increases are becoming more complex. To clarify and explain the current China tariff situation, please review the information with a few “must-know” facts below:

Hearings for “List 4”

“List 4” hearings on tariffs, which are targeting $200 billion of Chinese imports, commenced yesterday (June 17, 2019) and will run for over a week. More than 300 witnesses will appear, and almost all of them will testify in opposition to the tariffs.

SFIA-Led Petitions

SFIA is filing 46 petitions requesting “exemptions” from the tariffs on sports & fitness products included on “List 4”.

(NOTE: “Exemptions” remove products from tariff list before the tariffs are enacted. “Exclusions” remove products from the tariff list after the product has already been hit with a tariff increase.)

Bill Sells, SFIA Senior Vice President of Government & Public Affairs, will testify on behalf of the sports & fitness industry on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. A draft of the SFIA testimony can be found here.

The government must wait at least 7 days following the conclusion of the hearings before any new tariffs can be implemented.

For reference, “List 3” tariffs were announced within two months after conclusion of the hearings.

On June 20, 2019, the USTR is supposed to announce the “List 3” “exclusion” process for products currently subject to tariffs. SFIA will organize an “exclusion” effort on behalf of all interested members. To date, petitioners have realized a significantly higher success rate via the “exclusion” process for List 1 and List 2 products.

If you have any questions regarding tariffs, please contact Bill Sells, bsells@sfia.org or Chandler Hoffman at choffman@sfia.org.