As outlined in our prior client alert, 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 United States Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer (“USTR”) to implement tariffs on a list of products that benefit from China’s unfair industrial policies.

Following those instructions, USTR released on April 3, 2018, a proposed list of products that are under consideration for a tariff increase of 25 percent (in addition to any already existing tariff). The list, which appears as an Annex to USTR’s notice, includes products covering approximately 1,300 lines of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Code, totaling approximately $50 billion worth of trade 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.