White House Implements Tariffs on Chinese Goods; Threatens Additional $416 Billion in Tariffs

June 18, 2018 | The U.S.-China trade dispute continues to escalate, with several recent announcements made by the White House.

Over the weekend, the White House announced that it will implement a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of Chinese products, effective July 6. The action covers 818 of the original 1,333 proposed Harmonized Tariff Schedule lines. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) also proposed a 25 percent duty rate on an additional $16 billion worth of imports from China, including new items that were not previously included on the list in April. And in response to Beijing’s recent decision to raise tariffs on U.S. exports, the president has asked the USTR to identify yet another $200 billion in Chinese goods for tariffs at a rate of 10 percent.

The first two lists continue to focus on high-tech industrial sectors. While toys themselves are not included, there are some materials of significance to the toy industry on the second list, including a number of plastic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and others. Even if U.S. domestic toy producers are purchasing these materials from U.S. distributors, they are advised to check if their distributors are sourcing from China.

The USTR will hold a July 24 public hearing on the newly proposed list; any requests to testify at the hearing must be submitted by June 29. Public comments on the second list are due July 20. More information is available in the Federal Register notice.

Toy Association members who have questions or believe their companies will be impacted by these measures are encouraged to reach out to the Association’s external affairs team. Feedback is requested by June 29.

Should China retaliate to the proposed 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports, the administration said they are prepared to ask USTR to identify an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods, bringing the total to $450 billion – the equivalent to 90 percent of the $505 billion in goods imported from China last year. The Toy Association continues to monitor the issue and advocate on behalf of the toy community against toy tariffs.