Trump Delays Additional Duties on Canadian Goods by Three Days
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on August 18 postponing the collection of additional ad valorem duties on certain Canadian imports. The duties, introduced in three proclamations signed on July 20, had been scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on August 19. Their effective date is now 12:01 a.m. eastern time on August 22.
The measure applies to duties related to three areas of trade. One July proclamation addressed Canada’s treatment of US alcoholic beverages; another concerned tariff-rate quota allocations for US cheeses; and a third covered Canada’s motor-vehicle tariff scheme. The earlier proclamations imposed additional duties under section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
In the new proclamation, the administration said Canada’s restrictions on US alcoholic beverages included bans on their purchase, distribution or retailing while products from other countries were not subject to equivalent limits. It also described Canada’s dairy measures as discriminatory because of the way tariff-rate quotas were allocated across all types of US cheese.
For motor vehicles, the administration cited Canada’s tariff arrangements and said they disadvantaged US commerce relative to commerce from other countries. The three earlier proclamations characterized the relevant Canadian measures as unreasonable, not equally applied to like goods from every foreign country and burdensome to US commerce.
The proclamation said senior executive-branch officials had provided information, views and recommendations about the circumstances covered by the July measures and the state of negotiations between the United States and Canada. According to those officials, Canada had expressed a commitment to remove the measures described in the earlier proclamations. The officials said the public interest favored a three-day suspension because of the negotiations.
Section 338 permits the president, when deemed to serve the public interest, to impose additional duties of up to 50% ad valorem, or the equivalent, in response to an unequal foreign charge or discrimination against US commerce. It also permits the president to suspend, revoke, supplement or amend a proclamation issued under that section. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
The proclamation directs executive departments and agencies to begin implementation immediately and to suspend collection of the additional duties as required. The commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, consulting the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, the US trade representative, the chairman of the US International Trade Commission and other officials, must determine whether further changes to the tariff schedule are needed. Any required refunds are to be handled under applicable law and standard CBP procedures.
