Office of the United States Trade Representative December 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In a notice published on September 18, 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed additional modifications to the actions taken in the Section 301 investigation of China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. Specifically, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed increasing Section 301 tariff rates on five subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) covering certain tungsten products, wafers, and polysilicon. In a notice published on September 24, 2024, USTR announced the opening of an electronic portal for interested parties to submit comments on the proposed tariff increases. This notice announces the U.S. Trade Representative's determination to modify the actions being taken in this investigation by increasing tariff rates on the five subheadings.

In accordance with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), USTR is providing notice of its determination of the trade surplus in certain sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products of Chile, Morocco, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, and Panama. The level of a country's trade surplus in these goods relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products for which the United States grants preferential tariff treatment under the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (Chile FTA), the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (Morocco FTA), the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR FTA), the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (Peru TPA), the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (Colombia TPA), and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement (Panama TPA).

Each year, USTR conducts a review to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection. Based on this review, the U.S. Trade Representative determines which, if any, of these countries to identify as Priority Foreign Countries. USTR requests written comments that identify acts, policies, or practices that may form the basis of a country's identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List.