The Office of the United States Trade Representative ("USTR") has posted a Federal Register notice inviting comments on whether to reinstate previously granted Section 301 tariff exclusions on certain Chinese-origin products. At this time, comments are limited to the 549 products that previously received both an initial product exclusion and an exclusion extension. The USTR will now evaluate the possible reinstatement of those exclusions.

The focus of the USTR's evaluation will be whether "the particular product remains available only from China." The USTR will also consider, among other things, whether reinstating or not reinstating an exclusion "will impact or result in severe economic harm to the commenter or other U.S. interests, including the impact on small businesses, employment, manufacturing output, and critical supply chains in the United States…."

The comment period will run through December 1, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EST. The Federal Register notice outlines the factors that commenters should address in their submissions. At present, it is uncertain whether received comments will be considered to be a formal product exclusion request, or whether a separate submission may be subsequently required for a particular exclusion.