Tag: trump

USMCA; United States Mexico Canada Agreement

Posted by Jason P. Wapiennik on

The re-negotiation (and renaming) of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) is one step closer to completion, and will go forward to be finalized by the governments of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

The newly renamed agreement is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMC Agreement), and the full text of the agreement is now available. The United States Trade Representative’s office has posted a series of fact sheet with key points of the new agreement.

The White House issued its own fact sheet: President Donald J. Trump Secures A Modern, Rebalanced Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico

President Trump held a news conference on the topic of the trade agreement. You can watch the conference by following this link on C-Span.

 

President Trump signs proclamation imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum

Exclusion requests for Sec 232 and 301 tariffs

Posted by Jason P. Wapiennik on

Section 232 Tariffs: Steel, Aluminum, China

President Trump has announced new tariffs this year imposed on imports from various countries under two bases; first, he imposed a 25% steel tariff and 10% aluminum tariff under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This section allows the President to impose tariffs for national security reasons. We have a more extensive analysis at our page Steel & Aluminum Tariff Exclusions (Section 232)

Second, President Trump announced Section 301 tariffs against China ranging from 10% to 25%. We have a more extensive analysis at our page Section 301 Tariff Exclusions (China).

To date, the fact that these tariffs might only end-up hurting domestic industries is getting a lot of attention (there is a lot of tariff activity). There seems to be little awareness or recognition — both amongst importers and the news community as a whole — that there is very large loophole in both new tariffs: exclusions.

Exclusion Requests

The section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum permit importers to request exclusions from certain products, on certain grounds. Initially, the official announcements and proclamations seemed to only permit exclusion requests on national security grounds, however, once the exclusion request form (steel) was published it seemed to permit exclusion requests to be filed for basically any reason (including insufficient U.S. availability, No U.S. Production, and “Other”).

Importers may be in a panic about the new tariffs; they should not. They should calmly consider requesting exclusions for the products so that the new tariffs will not apply to them, and they will not be required to pay the extra duties. Although the exclusion process can be done by anyone, as always, hiring an experienced attorney to advocate for the exclusion of the particular products will help to ensure the best result possible.

Want to discuss a possible section 232 exclusion?

If you’re interested in applying for an exclusion for section 232 or 301 tariffs, you can give us a call or complete the contact form below.

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