Section 301 Tariffs Coming

The White House announced in a statement that it will impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods imported from China shortly by June 15, when a final list of covered imports will be announced. Moreover, by June 30 the U.S. “will implement specific investment restrictions and enhance export controls for Chinese persons and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology.” The Tuesday announcement came less than 10 days after the U.S. and Chinese governments issued a joint statement in which they signaled continued negotiations and a willingness from China to increase its purchases of U.S. agricultural goods and products.  China has already imposed $2 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. agricultural imports in response to U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. China has previously announced that if the U.S. were to implement the $50 billion in tariffs as part of the Section 301 investigation, they would retaliate with an equal amount of tariffs. The Chinese retaliatory tariff list includes an additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. agricultural and food products, impacting approximately $16.5 billion worth of imports from the U.S.