Commerce Department

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s exclusion process for interested parties to avoid the Section 301 tariffs on $34 billion worth Chinese goods includes a number of elements industry and private sector sources lauded as improvements on the Commerce Department’s Section 232 process.

After the U.S. on Friday imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, Beijing responded in kind, retaliating against an equivalent amount of U.S. goods and updating a World Trade Organization challenge to the U.S.’ Section 301 measures.

The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution Thursday that calls on the European Commission to suspend the Privacy Shield arrangement on Sept. 1 unless the U.S. improves its compliance with the framework, which underpins transatlantic data flows for over 3,000 companies.

The Japanese government along with industry associations representing the Japanese automobile and auto parts industry and individual Japanese auto companies have warned the U.S. Commerce Department that tariffs on autos and auto parts driven by national security would undermine the U.S. auto sector and economy.

The group told reporters on Wednesday that “ideally” the case would be decided by Labor Day.

“There's not a person at the White House that can articulate why they are doing this, other than to create leverage on NAFTA.”

Ross suggested the investigation could be wrapped up by July.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to justify the administration’s decision to initiate a Section 232 investigation into imports of autos and auto parts, but Ross offered little new information.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday said his agency was turning a corner in assessing requests for product exclusions from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum and defended the administration against accusations from Senate Finance Committee members that the process has been burdensome and ineffective.