The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that it will hold a public hearing on the Administration’s proposed Section 301 trade remedies.

As reported previously, on March 22, 2018, President Trump signed a memorandum instructing his administration to take action against the “unfair and harmful acquisition of U.S. technology” by China. Part of the President’s memorandum included an instruction for USTR Robert E. Lighthizer to implement tariffs on a list of products that benefit from China’s unfair industrial policies. As we reported, USTR subsequently released a proposed a list of products that are under consideration for a tariff increase of 25 % (in addition to any already existing tariff). This list includes products covering approximately 1,300 lines of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Code, totaling approximately $50 billion worth of imports from China each year. The list covers a wide range of products, including products from the aerospace, information communication, chemical, food and drug, medical devices, metals, technology, transportation, and electronics sectors. The proposed list of products is available here.

In response, the Chinese government circulated a list of products by HTS category on which it plans to impose a 25% tariff if and when the Trump Administration’s tariffs go into effect. The Chinese government’s retaliatory list generally targets agriculture (e.g., soybeans, corn, wheat, beef, tobacco), whiskies (e.g., bourbon), automobiles and other vehicles, a wide range of chemicals and plastics, and aircraft. Responding to this countermove, President Trump issued a statement reporting that he has “instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under Section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs.”

USTR is now seeking public comment on the proposed remedies. The due date for requests to appear at the hearing was April 23, 2018. The rest of the process will proceed according to the following schedule:

• May 11, 2018: Due date for submission of written comments.
• May 15, 2018: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing in the main hearing room of the U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC, 20436, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
• May 22, 2018: Due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments.

More details on the submission process may be found here.