President Trump on September 17 formally announced plans to move forward with tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports (List 3) starting one week from today (September 24), a statement followed shortly by USTR’s statement and the final list. The final version of List 3, largely unchanged from the draft list, includes items that would be subject to tariffs of 10 percent starting September 24. Those tariffs, however, would rise to 25 percent on January 1, 2019. USTR did not immediately announce any plans to institute an exclusion process for these products, as they had done for previous lists (such as List 2, whose exclusion process was also announced on September 17. President Trump’s statement also indicated that if China retaliates with tariffs or actions of its own, the administration will take steps towards tariffs on a so-called “List 4” of $267 billion of additional imports.
China’s Ministry of Commerce earlier today responded by stating that China “had no choice” but to retaliate, announcing final imposition of tariffs at either a 5 or 10 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S. exports that is unchanged from the draft list proposed on August 3. China also announced that they had officially filed a compliant at the World Trade Organization against U.S. actions.