On August 1, 2019, President Trump sent out a Tweet announcing that the United States would impose a 10% additional tariff (duty) on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese products beginning on September 1, 2019. The action is being taken at this time, after the latest round of trade talks between China and the United States, because the President does not believe that China is living up to the commitments it made at the G20 meeting, including increasing agricultural purchases and stopping the sale of fentanyl to the United States. The new tariff would be imposed pursuant to section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on goods not covered by the earlier tariffs imposed in three separate announcements. The first announcement imposed a 25% tariff on Chinese products covered by 818 tariff subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) worth approximately $34 billion as of July 6, 2018. On August 23, 2018, USTR imposed additional 25 percent duties on goods of China classified in 279 8-digit subheadings of the HTSUS, with an approximate annual trade value of $16 billion. The third announcement initially imposed a 10% tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods covered by 5,745 full and partial tariff subheadings with an approximate annual trade value of $200 billion as of September 24, 2018, but on January 1, 2019 the tariffs increased to 25%. The new tariffs will cover virtually all of the remaining Chinese imports, most of which are consumer products. The US Trade Representative is expected to post an advance copy of the a Federal Register notice listing the covered tariff subheadings in the near future. It is expected that China will retaliate by raising tariffs on additional products from the United States.
