Office of the United States Trade Representative June 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is announcing the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2020. The Subcommittee requests comments for this review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter.

In a notice published on May 9, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (Trade Representative) announced that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) would establish a process by which U.S. stakeholders may request exclusion of particular products classified within a tariff subheading covered by the September 2018 action in this investigation from the additional duties. This notice announces that USTR will open an electronic portal for submission of exclusion requests on June 30, 2019, and sets out the specific procedures for submitting requests.

On January 23, 2018, the President imposed a safeguard measure on imports of certain solar products pursuant to a Section 201 investigation. On February 14, 2018, the United States Trade Representative (Trade Representative) established a procedure to request product-specific exclusions from application of the safeguard measure. On September 19, 2018, the Trade Representative granted certain of those exclusion requests. This notice announces the Trade Representative's determination to grant additional exclusion requests, as specified in the Annex to this notice. The Trade Representative will not further consider exclusion requests that were not granted in this or the September 19 notices. This action is without prejudice to the Trade Representative's authority to grant exclusions if there is another round of requests for exclusion.

Effective July 6, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (Trade Representative) imposed additional duties on goods of China with an annual trade value of approximately $34 billion (the $34 billion action) as part of the action in the Section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The Trade Representative's determination included a decision to establish a product exclusion process. The Trade Representative initiated the exclusion process in July 2018, and stakeholders have submitted requests for the exclusion of specific products. In December 2018, March 2019, April 2019, and May 2019, the Trade Representative granted exclusion requests. This notice announces the Trade Representative's determination to grant additional exclusion requests, as specified in the Annex to this notice. The Trade Representative will continue to issue decisions on pending requests on a periodic basis.