Additional HME Supplies Fall Under New Tariff Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 12, 2018)—On Tuesday, July 10, the Trump administration released a new list of goods imported from China that could face 10 percent tariffs. Items on the list that may be of particular interest to the HME community include:

• Medical gloves of vulcanized rubber other than hard rubber (4015.19.05) and bedsheets and similar household, sanitary or hospital articles of paper, cellulose wadding or webs of cellulose fibers (4818.90.00)
• A range of batteries (8506.10.00 through 8507.50.00)
• A wide range of basic materials and fabrics that may be relevant in the manufacture of some products and components (see p. 160 to 177)

View the list of proposed items subject to the new tariffs here. Comments on this set of proposed tariffs are due on August 17, 2018. The Section 301 Committee of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) will hold public hearings on the tariffs August 20–23.  

The USTR announced a process by which companies can request the removal of any products the company imports that are covered by the Section 301 tariffs originally released last month. Note that exclusion decisions will be granted on particular products within a harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) subheading, not for the broader eight-digit HTS product category covered by the tariffs.

The period for filing a request ends October 9, 2018. More details can be found in these documents:

• USTR announcement on exclusion process
• Procedures for exclusion process
• Exclusion request form
• Items subject to first round of tariffs