The United States International Trade Commission has scheduled the next stage of the temporary import tariff suspension process. As established by the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016 and discussed here in my previous article December 2016, the Commission received and reviewed petitions for temporary tariff relief filed by domestic manufacturers that use imported materials. Those petitions meeting the form and content requirements are now posted on the agency’s website.
The Commission recently invited public comments on these accepted petitions. It seeks information for the report it must provide to Congress regarding the likely consequences of the requested tariff suspensions. In particular, it is looking for “comments from domestic producers with respect to whether they produce an article that is identical to, like, or directly competitive with an article that is the subject of a petition for a duty suspension or reduction, and if they do, whether they object to such a duty suspension or reduction.” In addition, the Commission wants to hear “from individuals and entities who believe they would be a likely beneficiary of a particular duty suspension or reduction.”
As a general rule, tariffs on an imported product will not be temporarily lifted if there is a domestic producer of competing items that objects. Also, the duty suspension benefit must be available to all importers of the product, and the annual revenue loss cannot exceed $500,000. The Commission will report its initial findings and recommendations to Congress in June 2017.
Comments on proposed petitions must be filed electronically, and are due by February 24, 2017.
