USA increasing tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese imports…including tyres

In the USA, the recent United States Trade Representative (USTR) Section 301 investigation exploring potential tariffs on a range of Chinese imports has reported back. After tariffs of 10 per cent were put into place in September, the planned increase to 25 per cent in January was delayed while trade talks continued.

However, the USTR has now stated that its plans to increase tariffs to 25 per cent on products including tyres:

“In accordance with the direction of the President, the U.S. Trade Representative (Trade Representative) has determined to modify the action being taken in this Section 301 investigation by increasing the rate of additional duty from 10 per cent to 25 per cent for the products of China covered by the September 2018 action in this investigation. The Trade Representative has further determined to establish a process by which interested persons may request that particular products classified within a tariff subheading covered by the September 2018 action be excluded from the additional duties.”

As a result, the additional duty will increase to 25 per cent with respect to products covered by the September 2018 action on 10 May 2019.