Yesterday, President Trump followed through on the threat to impose additional duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The additional duties will start at 10% and will go into effect on September 24^th. Further, the additional duties will increase to 25% on January 1. The President has also said he is prepared to place tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports “if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries”.

“For months, we have urged China to change these unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies,” Mr. Trump said. “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”

White House officials said on Monday that China could win relief from the tariffs by acceding to the administration’s trade demands, including allowing American companies greater access to the China market and dropping its requirement that American companies hand over valuable technology to Chinese partners. Officials said the United States would only continue trade negotiations if the Chinese were “serious” about giving ground on those issues.

The list of items affected by this latest increase can be found here:

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/Tariff%20List_09.17.18.pdf

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact your V. Alexander Account Team.