U.S. Reinstates 352 Product Exclusions From China Tariffs

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Wednesday it has reinstated 352 expired product exclusions from U.S. "Section 301" tariffs on Chinese imports, well short of the 549 exclusions that it was previously considering.

The reinstated product exclusions will be effective retroactively from Oct. 12, 2021, and extend through Dec. 31, 2022, USTR said. They cover a wide range of the initially estimated $370 billion worth of Chinese imports that former president Donald Trump hit with punitive tariffs of 7.5% to 25%.

List of steel and its products

28. Filter housing, cover or coupling, made of steel;

40. Iron caps, anvils and broken rods, made of steel;

41. Spherical angle plug valve body, made of cast iron;

43. Angle steel cock handle assembly, made of steel;

45. Steel C-rod, designed for hydraulic solenoid control valve;

48. Steel pole, designed for hydraulic solenoid control valve;

49. Steel push rod, designed for hydraulic solenoid control valve;

50. Steel gripper, designed for hydraulic solenoid control valve;

56. Polyphase AC motor with rolled steel frame structure;

81. Scaffolding equipment, including powder-coated or galvanized welded pipes, steel frames, supports, guardrail systems, components and accessories;

82. Portable outdoor cooker kits comprising at least one burner and brackets of steel and/or cast iron;

83. Grille composed of steel wire;

84. Steel cable hook;

87. Kitchen and table utensils of steel;

88. Specially designed automotive polishing attachments for hand-held drills, each attachment includes a 9.5 mm steel drive shaft, internal gear assembly, lateral manual bracket and rotary disk assembly;

89. Carbon alloy steel bolted ends used in basin or horizontal grinding machines;

91. Stamping and forming steel bracket;

94. Steel hydraulic valve lifters with rollers, used alone or mainly in spark ignition internal combustion piston engines;

95. Steel solid valve lifters, used alone or mainly in spark ignition internal combustion piston engines;

96. Wind turbine hub;

98. Vacuum pumps, each consisting of a cast aluminum valve body and a non-alloy steel cover;

104. Compact portable stainless steel transport scale;

105. Screw jacks and scissor jacks;

146. Plastic and steel electrical insulators;

147. Tire carrier accessories, roof racks, fender pads, side protection accessories, the aforementioned steels;

149. SAE 1035 carbon steel flange forgings;

150. SAE 1035 carbon steel wheel forgings;

151. SAE 1520 carbon steel parking gear blank;

152. Stahlwerk-Annahutte ZF34C grade carbon steel stator shaft;

153. SAE 1045 carbon steel front output shaft;

154. Steel suspension receiver.

The list released by USTR includes industrial components such as pumps and electric motors, certain car parts and chemicals, backpacks, bicycles, vacuum cleaners and other consumer goods.

A spokeswoman at China's commerce ministry said on Thursday the U.S. decision was beneficial to normalizing the trade flow of those products, and hoped bilateral trade relations would get back on a normal track.

"Amid inflation spikes and challenges to the global economic recovery, we hope the U.S. could scrap all tariffs on Chinese products as soon as possible for the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in China and the U.S.," spokeswoman Shu Jueting told reporters.

The Trump administration initially granted more than 2,200 exclusions to the tariffs to provide relief to certain industries and retailers. Most were allowed to expire, but 549 were extended for a year, and these expired at the end of 2020.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai last October launched a review of whether to reinstate those 549 exclusions as part of her strategy to confront China on its trade practices.

A series of virtual meetings with her Chinese counterparts since then yielded little improvement in China's performance under Trump's "Phase 1" trade agreement with Beijing.

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