As we have previously reported, in July 2018, United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it would establish a process to allow interested parties to request that their Chinese imports be excluded from the tariffs imposed on them under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. In December 2018, USTR granted the first group of exclusions from the tariffs, which covered more than 950 products.

On March 25, 2019, USTR announced that it had decided to grant exclusions from the tariffs for a second group set of Chinese imports, which cover three ten-digit HTS categories and thirty other product categories. The second round of exclusions covers roughly 87 separate exclusion requests. The products covered by the exclusions include a variety of products, including such products as breast pumps, water purifiers and tuners for musical instruments.

As USTR has explained, when assessing whether to grant an exclusion request, it considers several factors. Specifically, USTR considers whether the product is only available in China, whether severe economic harm would result from the imposition of additional duties, and whether the products are strategically important or related to “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs.

The second round of exclusions are retroactive to July 6, 2018, which is the date on which USTR announced that it was imposing the tariffs on Chinese imports. The granted exclusions will extend for one year from the date of publication of the notice by USTR. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) will provide guidance to importers on how they can obtain refunds of the Section 301 duties paid on these imports. Under the process, any importer may take advantage of the exclusions, even if the importer was not the entity that submitted the exclusion request.

USTR has stated that it will continue to issue decisions on pending exclusion requests periodically.