List 4A Reduction CSMS Message, Additional List 3 Exclusions Granted

February 10, 2020: List 4A Reduction CSMS Message, Additional List 3 Exclusions Granted

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a Cargo Systems Messaging Service message regarding the February 14 reduction of the List 4A tariffs from 15% to 7.5%, providing guidance for the updated Customs procedures.

On January 31, 2020, the United States Trade Representative ("USTR") issued a further round of product exclusions pertaining to the Section 301 List 3 currently subject to a 25% tariff. The new list includes 52 specifically crafted product descriptions that cover 117 separate exclusion requests. The products affected include seafood, bicycles and bicycle tires, printed circuit boards, and faucets and valves of various metals. The exclusions are retroactive to when the tariffs were implemented on September 24, 2018 and will expire on August 7, 2020. This is the eighth round of tariff exclusions for List 3.

On February 4,The Wall Street Journal reported that the USTR had granted about 35% of the exemption requests for List 1 and 2 while only 3% of List 3 exemption requests had been granted. NOTE: According to a Mercatus Center update from December, exemption requests for Lists 1 and 2 totaled approximately 14,000, while exemption requests for List 3 totaled over 30,000. According to that report, only 5,000 of the 30,000 List 3 requests had been adjudicated; however, the WSJ’s initial 3% figure reflects those requests easiest to discard such as improperly submitted requests, etc., while more steps are required to arrive at an approval decision.

Current tariff snapshot:

  • Products on HTC lists 1, 2, and 3, are currently tariffed at 25%
  • Products on HTC list 4A (stringed instruments, pianos, wind instruments, percussion, keyboards, accessories and more) are currently subject to a 7.5% tariff
  • Products on HTC list 4B (some stringed instruments, stands and some accessories) are not currently subject to additional tariffs

NAMM will continue to closely monitor this issue. Please check here often for updates and new resources.