On June 15, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) released the final list of 818 Chinese products that will be subject to tariffs of 25 percent tariffs under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This list is a result of USTR’s Section 301 investigation into China’s policies relating to the acquisition of the intellectual property of U.S. firms.

As King & Spalding has previously reported, on March 22, 2018, President Trump directed USTR to take action against China’s “unfair and harmful acquisition of U.S. technology.” Among other things, President Trump instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to propose additional tariffs on a range of products benefiting from China’s industrial policies.

Accordingly, in April, USTR issued a list of imports from China that would be subject to a proposed tariff of 25 percent under section 301. After a notice and comment period and a three-day hearing by an inter-agency committee, USTR has now released its final list of Chinese products subject to tariff increases of 25 percent.

USTR’s final list covers 818 HTS product categories. The HTS categories cover a wide range of products, including products used in the aerospace, information communication, chemical, medical device, metals, technology, transportation, and electronics industries. The new tariffs will be collected by Customs and Border Protection beginning July 6, 2018. As part of the announcement, USTR released a new list of 284 additional products that may be subjected to the 25 percent tariff after a notice and comment period. Both lists are available here.

As King & Spalding also reported, in his March 22, 2018 statement, President Trump announced that he planned to “implement specific investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese persons and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology,” and he stated that the list of sensitive items would be announced by June 30. On June 27, 2018, however, the President stated that he would not issue investment restrictions on China but would request that Congress enact legislation reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), the interagency committee that is traditionally responsible for reviewing inbound foreign investment for national security concerns.

As a result, Congress is poised to pass the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (S. 2098/HR 5841) as part of its defense spending bill. Rather than publishing a list of “industrially significant technology” that would be subject to enhanced export controls, President Trump has directed the Commerce Department to review existing export controls authorities and make any modifications needed to defend U.S. national security and technological leadership.