Watch Now


CBP confirms 301 duty raise time frame

The agency issued guidance on Friday detailing the specifics of the tariff increase from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of goods from China.

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued guidance on Friday confirming that the Section 301 tariff increase across $200 billion worth of goods from China will apply only to goods that meet both conditions of being exported and entered into the U.S. at or after 12:01 a.m. Friday.
   But goods exported prior to Friday must be entered into U.S. commerce by June 1 in order to be subject to the lower 10% duty rate, according to CBP and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
   “Effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on May 10, 2019, and exported to the United States on or after May 10, 2019, the rate of additional duties on imported articles classified in a subheading covered by the September 21, 2018 Federal Register notice, as amended, will be 25% ad valorem,” CBP said in a Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) message.
   The Trump administration this week increased the duty rate on a third list of goods from China from 10% to 25%.
   Filings for imports both exported and entered into U.S. commerce Friday or later must include Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) numbers 9903.88.03 and 9903.88.04, denoting a 25% duty rate, the CSMS message says.
   Imports entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption between Friday and June 1, and exported to the U.S. before Friday, are advised to be filed with HTS code 9903.88.09, denoting a 10% duty rate.
   “Products of China that are covered by the September 2018 action and that were exported to the United States prior to May 10, 2019, are not subject to the additional duty of 25%, as long as such products are entered into the United States prior to June 1, 2019,” USTR said in a notice. Such products remain subject to the additional duty of 10% for this interim period.
   On Sept. 21, USTR published a notice imposing additional duties on more than 5,700 full and partial HTS subheadings for goods imported from China. The duties originally took effect at a rate of 10%, starting on Sept. 24.
   For further information, filers should refer to USTR’s website at USTR.gov and the Federal Register for official announcements on this matter, CBP said.
   Questions related to Section 301 entry filing requirements should be emailed to [email protected], and questions from the importing community concerning rejections in the Automated Commercial Environment should be referred to their client representative, CBP said.

Brian Bradley

Based in Washington, D.C., Brian covers international trade policy for American Shipper and FreightWaves. In the past, he covered nuclear defense, environmental cleanup, crime, sports, and trade at various industry and local publications.