China Section 301 Tariffs to Continue
NEW YORK – The federal Court of International Trade ruled late last week that the Section 301 tariffs on almost all goods imported from China would remain in place.
A three-judge panel found that the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) acted within its legal authority in imposing the universal tariffs, now at 25%, on Chinese imports.
The judges, in a “slip decision” March 17. rejected arguments by more than 3,600 companies, including a large group of U.S. importers, that the USTR didn’t follow proper guidelines set by the U.S. government and the World Trade Organization.
The tariffs, imposed in 2018 in two stages, came at the order of then-President Donald Trump in an effort to prod the Chinese government into negotiating a new comprehensive trade agreement with the United States. The USTR can set tariffs in matters of trade-agreement violations or national security under a part of U.S. trade law called Section 301.
No such U.S.-China trade agreement has been reached to date.
An initial court filing by one company in September 2020 ballooned into the mass action by companies importing a wide variety of Chinese goods. By March 2021, the list of 3,600 filers included at least 30 companies involved in the U.S. hard-surface industry.
The judges ruled last April that the USTR had the authority to impose the tariffs, but also required the USTR to further explain its decision-making process. U.S. importers argued that the government office acted without fairly considering arguments raised against the tariffs.
Last week, the judges stated that the USTR acted properly in its consideration of the tariffs, and had legal authority as directed by the president.
The 301 tariffs came as part of Trump administration policy, but support for the action continues under the Biden administration.
The judges’ ruling will likely be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, with any decisions there unlikely before 2024.
