WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The U.S. Trade Representative has granted two more importers exclusions from the U.S.-China trade war tariffs, currently 25%. The USTR also announced two new denials of exclusion petitions from the industry.
The exclusions apply to all importers of China-made products meeting descriptions published in the Federal Register on Nov. 29. Importers will no longer have to pay the extra 25% tariff imposed by the Trump administration as part of its trade war, and will be able to request reimbursement for previously paid tariffs. The exclusions expire next August and don't apply to the pre-existing tariffs on the products, which are 5.5%.
The new exclusions were granted to Priority Outdoor Products and Bantam Digital, which does business as Big Shot Bikes. The descriptions of the products covered by the exclusions are narrowly written, so it's unclear how many importers will be able to take advantage of them.
The exclusion granted to Priority applies to the brand's City Cruiser bikes, which have aluminum frames, 700c x 35mm tires, belt drives, twist shifters, and 3-, 7-, or 12-speed internal gear rear hubs.
The exclusion granted to Big Shot applies to singlespeed bikes with steel frames, aluminum stems, rims and cranks and plastic grips, saddles and pedals. The bikes must weigh less than 25.4 pounds.
The USTR denied two exclusion requests from BikeCo for kids bikes with 24-inch and 20-inch wheels. The USTR said BikeCo's "request failed to show that the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause severe economic harm to you or other U.S. interests."
The exclusions are from the round of tariffs that took effect in September last year, hitting products with annual import value of $200 billion. The tariff was initially 10%, then increased to 25%.
The USTR previously denied requests from Delta, for a two-bike storage unit, and Off the Front, a California nonprofit group, for kids bikes.
The USTR previously granted exclusions to State Bicycle (for singlespeed road bikes), Parlee (for carbon frames valued under $600), and CatEye (for specific wired bike computers).
The full descriptions of the new exclusions, as described in the Federal Register:
- The Priority exclusion: "Bicycles, not motorized, each having aluminum- or magnesium- alloy wheels both measuring more than 69 cm but not more than 71 cm in diameter, tires of cross-sectional diameter of 3.5 cm, aluminum frame, a polyurethane/carbon fiber cord drive belt, 3-, 7- or 12-speed rear hub and twist shifter (described in statistical reporting number 8712.00.2500)"
- The Big Shot exclusion: "Single-speed bicycles meeting the criteria of HTS subheading 8712.00.44, each having steel frame, with aluminum stems, rims and crankset and with rider contact area of plastics, each bicycle weighing not over 11.5 kg (described in statistical reporting number 8712.00.4400)"
