In the face of massive uncertainty on the status of the US/China trade negotiations, importers should be aware that the duty rate for List 3 products could go from 10% to 25%, as early as 12:01 AM Friday. Also, a “List 4” may be announced covering the remaining products from China not yet addressed in Lists 1 – 3. A “List 4” process would be similar to the notice and comment process for Lists 1-3.

The options available to minimize the List 3 impact would be: 1) pre-clear inbound goods that will arrive by Thursday night (goods must be within the port limits before a midnight increase Friday morning for the 10% duty to apply to the goods); 2) goods in bonded warehouses which are withdrawn for consumption prior to the effective time would enter under the 10% rate; or 3) enter upcoming shipments into an FTZ or bonded warehouse, or divert shipments to other countries until the US/China trade relationship stabilizes.

“The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate,” Trump said. “No!”

It’s difficult to know whether the announcement was motivated by fundamental disagreements between the U.S. and China on outstanding areas of the negotiation or by a desire by Trump to boost U.S. leverage as Washington and Beijing look to enter a final phase of trade talks, U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) Senior Vice President Erin Ennis told American Shipper.