The law states that the tariffs expire four years after they were imposed, unless the US Trade Representative’s office analyzes their effectiveness and consequences. The review needs to happen within 60 days of their potential end, which is July 6 for the first group of US$34 billion in Chinese goods, with the majority set to expire in the following months.
President Joe Biden’s administration will soon start a review of the first group of tariffs on more than US$300 billion in Chinese imports needed to prevent their expiration, a process likely to bring new scrutiny of their effectiveness as inflation runs at a four-decade high.
The evaluation, officially known as a “review of necessity,” so far has attracted little attention. It relates to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the law that President Donald Trump used to hit China with the tariffs starting in July 2018.
