The United States Trade Representative has released a list of products shipped from China that will receive an extension of tariff exclusions, with several seafood items on the list.
The exclusion extensions apply to several seafood products shipped from China, and allows those products to continue avoiding a 25 percent tariff. The product exclusions will continue to retroactively apply as of 24 September, 2018, and were set to expire on 7 August before the extension which came on the last day before those products would be back under the tariff program.
All told, the tariffs are on USD 200 billion (EUR 169 billion) worth of goods, and the exclusion extensions cover everything from seafood to baby crib liners.
Seafood products receiving an extension include:
- Alaskan sole (yellowfin, rock, or flathead) frozen in blocks, with a net weight of more than 4.5 kilograms.
- King crab meat, frozen in blocks and weighing at least 1 kilogram but not more than 1.2 kilograms, in airtight containers.
- Snow crab meat (C. opilio), frozen in blocks, in airtight containers and with a net weight of no more than 1.2 kilograms.
- Dungeness crab meat, frozen in blocks in airtight containers, with a weight of no more than 1.2 kilograms.
- Any crab meat other than king, snow, Dungeness, or swimming crabs, frozen in blocks in airtight containers weight no more than 1.5 kilograms.
Several other products also included in the exclusion extension, listed under Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes:
- Haddock, under code 0304.72.5000
- Sole, under code 0304.83.1015 and 0304.83.5015 – both skinned and in frozen blocks weighing over 4.5 kilograms imported to be minced or cut into pieces of uniform weights and dimensions, and the “other” category.
- Flounder, under codes 0304.83.1020 and 0304.83.5020 – skinned and in frozen blocks weighing over 4.5 kilograms imported to be minced or cut into pieces of uniform weights and dimensions, and the “other category.
While those exclusions are good news for importers of those products, other products were conspicuously absent from the list of exclusion extensions. Tilapia, which had an exclusion granted back in March, was not on the list to receive a tariff extension. That means as of 7 August, Tilapia is back on the tariff list, and will be under a 25 percent tariff once again.
In addition to tilapia, importers of crabmeat from red swimming crabs will also be bearing the brunt of tariffs once more. The crabmeat of red swimming crabs, both packed fresh and pasteurized or frozen in airtight containers, was also excluded from tariffs in March. It, too, was absent from the USTR’s recent tariff exclusion extensions, and as of 10 August no further updates were available from the USTR.
Photo courtesy of Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock
