USTR Releases Notice To Bump Up Last China Tariff Tranche

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released a notice for publication in the Federal Register to increase tariffs from 10% to 15% across approximately $263 billion worth of annual imports from China.

The notice is scheduled to be officially published on Aug. 30, and the 15% tariffs will be imposed in phases to take effect Sept. 1 and Dec. 15.

Product groups on the Sept. 1 list include apparel, TVs and monitors, agricultural and livestock products, and metals, and the largest product groups on the Dec. 15 list include phones, laptops, toys/games, and other apparel.

Analysts expect consumers to deeply feel the impacts of the upcoming tariffs.

Trump Tweeted the tariff increase on Aug. 23. He also Tweeted that he intended to raise tariffs across another three tranches of tariffs totaling $250 billion in annual imports from China from 25% to 30%, but the USTR notice doesn't address any potential increase on those particular tariffs, which are already in effect.

The USTR notice comes after China's State Council on Aug. 23 announced that it would increase tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. exports from 5% to 10%. That increase will be imposed in phases to take effect on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15.

"China's most recent response of announcing a new tariff increase on U.S. goods has shown that the current [U.S. tariff] action being taken is no longer appropriate," the USTR notice says. "The United States is engaging with China with the goal of obtaining the elimination of the acts, policies, and practices covered in the [Section 301] investigation."

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