301 Tariffs Upheld in CIT

The US Court of International Trade on Friday sided with the Administration in a challenge raised by over 3,600 companies against Section 301 tariffs imposed on a wide array of Chinese products.

The tariffs were imposed during the Trump Administration and have been defended by the Biden Administration.

The Court consolidated multiple challenges filed by US businesses against the Section 301 tariffs into a single case specifically dealing with the two final lists of Chinese products subject to the tariffs.

In its decision issued Friday, the Court sustained the US Trade Representative’s Office decision to increase the number of Chinese products subject to the Section 301 tariffs by issuing the two additional product lists, known as List 3 and List 4A.

The Court first upheld USTR’s statutory authority to impose the tariffs last year, but agreed that USTR had not fully complied with the Administrative Procedure Act when it promulgated List 3 and List 4A. In last year’s ruling, the CIT instructed USTR to come into compliance with the APA.

In its new decision, the Court found that USTR’s remand redetermination brings it into APA compliance by (1) identifying the documents underlying its response to comments; (2) providing additional explanation supporting the removal or retention of certain tariff subheadings from List 3 and List 4A; (3) addressing comments concerning the level of duties to be imposed and the aggregate level of trade subject to the duties and (4) addressing comments concerning potential harm to the domestic economy, the legality and efficacy of the tariffs, and suggesting alternative measures.

“The court finds that USTR has complied with the court’s remand order and has supplied necessary explanation supporting the imposition of duties pursuant to Final List 3 and Final List 4,” according to the decision. [Slip Opin. 23-35]