On November 1, 2022, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) released the Questionnaire it requests interested parties to submit to it for review regarding the economic impact of Section 301 tariffs. submitting responses to the questionnaire will open on November 15, 2022 and remain open until January 17, 2023. The questionnaire has several pages of questions and similar to the comments it solicited in 2018, the USTR includes specific sections that allow parties to comment and address concerns related to specific HTSUS codes.
Parties wishing to raise specific concerns related to HTSUS subheadings are required to further explain whether Section 301 duties on that individual HTSUS subheading have resulted in changes to the domestic manufacture of the product or goods. that the entity used as input. The questionnaire also asks commentators to discuss the effects “including in terms of capital investment, capacity and production levels, industry concentration and profits? Have additional duties on goods covered by this tariff code had an impact on American workers, particularly with regard to the level of employment and wages? »
One of the most interesting questions is whether the tariffs on inputs are such that the downstream product or the finished product undergoes “tariff inversion”, i.e. the tariffs make the product cheaper. purchasing a Chinese finished product than manufacturing the finished product in China. the United States with the higher tariffs for this product, making the economy-wide impact of Section 301 tariffs potentially counterproductive. The USTR further requests information on the effectiveness of tariffs in altering or modifying Chinese behavior.
Husch Blackwell recommends that all clients, whether or not they have filed complaints challenging Section 301 obligations, review the questionnaire and discuss next steps with counsel so that they are able to prepare and submit in timely feedback that will ultimately impact whether or not Section 301 obligations will be continued. $500 billion worth of goods.
