President Trump acted on February 1st to issue Executive Orders imposing certain tariffs as he has repeatedly promised over the past several months. The new tariffs announced yesterday, will amount to a significant 25% duty on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States. Goods certified as loaded or in transit before February 1st are excluded. These will be in addition to existing tariffs. Notably, the tariffs included a carve-out, with Canadian energy products (oil, electricity, gas, etc.) tariffed at 10%. The tariffs will have no exemptions. The executive action signed will also close the so-called de minimis loophole that had allowed shipments of $800 or less to come into the United States tax-free — a key provision used by many Chinese direct to consumer exporters, cited by the Association as allowing counterfeit or unsafe products being sent from China directly to U.S. Consumers. The loophole resulted in customs officials often avoiding inspections of those packages. Although Trump administration officials said Saturday the tariffs were designed to stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants, they gave no specific benchmark for the new import taxes to be lifted — other than the cessation of the drugs and undocumented immigrants coming into the country. To put the tariffs in place, Trump in his executive action declared a national economic emergency, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as “IEEPA,” which unilaterally authorizes a president to manage imports during a national emergency. The tariffs are set to go into effect Tuesday, February 4th at 12:01 am ET. The Association will continue to monitor implementation and actions of U.S. trading partners in response. | 
Print Page
Email to a Friend