Written by Jamie Rodgers, CEO of J.M. Rodgers Co., Inc.
US Importers can breathe a small sigh of relief this week, as following meetings at the G-20 in Japan this week President Trump announced that no new tariffs would be going into effect on Chinese products any time soon.
The looming threat of a 25% tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of products not currently touched by section 301 tariffs had been something of concern across nearly all industries for months. With over $200 billion of products already being hit by the 25% amount, the costs of importing were possibly looking at going way up across the board.
While there are no new tariffs, it does appear that the current tariffs are not going anywhere right now. There was no resolution from the G-20 talks, simply a promise to continue negotiating and not ratchet the pressure up higher with more tariffs in the short term. However, the current administration has turned policy on a dime in the past, and so it is always possible things change on that front.
Progress on a new long-term trade agreement is still up in the air, but any meeting between the two world leaders that ended on a positive note is a good sign for the long term. Along with the announcement that new tariffs would be coming, President Trump also said that China agreed to purchase more farm products, a sign that both sides are entering into a period of good-faith negotiations to end the trade acrimony.
The section 301 duties have driven considerable interest in duty drawback. Since they were first announced as being eligible, it has become a big area of interest across industries that had barely paid duty for years. These new tariffs, along with new regulations in place, have made drawback a continuing hot topic among importers and exporters.
If you’d like to discuss how these ongoing duties and their eligibility for drawback affect your company, please contact our VP of Sales Andrew Galloway at agalloway@jmrodgers.com or 973-726-5340.
