There has been much concern about the chemical products included on the list of proposed tariffs on Chinese goods and how it will affect chemical markets in the U.S. On June 15th, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released two lists of products that will be subject to additional 25% tariffs on Chinese imports.
The National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) submitted comments on the proposed tariffs and was successful in having six chemical articles removed from the final list of HTS codes under consideration.
The first list primarily contains tariffs on industrial machinery, machine parts, and electrical components, including machinery used in the plastics industry. Tariffs on these items will go into effect on July 6th, 2018. The second list contains 284 proposed HTS codes identified by USTR as benefiting from Chinese industrial policies totaling $16 billion in potential tariffs. The second list does contain some chemical products, but it is primarily limited to lubricants and polymer building blocks for plastics.
Comments will be accepted on the second list until July 20th, 2018 and a hearing will be held on July 24th.
The lists are available on the USTR’s website. List one can be found here. List two can be found here.