Importers of Industrial Machinery May Now Apply for Section 301 Exclusions

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened a portal to be used for submitting exclusion requests for industrial machinery outside the solar sector.

While the changes to the Section 301 action on Chinese imports granted automatic exclusions to about a dozen kinds of solar panel and solar cell manufacturing equipment, businesses will have to apply for an exclusion for equipment included in more than 100 8-digit tariff lines in headings 8417-8420, 8422, 8429, 8430, 8432-8439, 8441, 8442, 8444-8449, 8451-8465, 8468, 8475, 8477-8479, 8486, 8514, 8515 and 8543.

The same portal will accept responses to exclusion requests, which must be submitted within 30 days of the request being published. Importers are allowed to rebut those comments, and that must be done either 15 days after the response, or 45 days after the request was posted, whichever is later.

The rollback of Section 301 tariffs on accepted exclusions will apply starting on the date it is publicly granted; the exclusions will last less than a year, until May 31, 2025.

If someone wishing to file for an exclusion has a question on customs classification, they should email traderemedy@cbp.dhs.gov. For general questions about the notice, contact the chairs of the Section 301 Committee at (202) 395-5725.