On Monday, April 8, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office issued a press release in response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) finding that subsidies provided to Airbus by the European Union (EU) have caused adverse effects to the United States. The USTR announced that they are identifying EU products to which additional duties may be applied, pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

The USTR estimates the harm from the EU subsidies as $11 billion in trade each year. That amount is currently being arbitrated within the WTO and the findings will be announced this summer. In an effort to take immediate action upon the final WTO value determination, the USTR released for public comment the preliminary list of EU products which could be subject to additional tariffs up to 100%. The list includes 317 different tariff lines which would apply to all 28 EU member countries. The list also includes nine tariffs covering aircraft, aircraft parts, and helicopters from France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Importers of goods on the preliminary list should consider filing comments and taking proactive measures to mitigate the impact of any potential tariff increase.

The USTR is accepting comments related to the following:

specific products that should be added, retained, or removed
the level of increase, if any, in the tariff rate
the appropriate aggregate level of trade to be covered by the additional tariffs
any adverse effect on U.S. stakeholders, including small businesses and consumers, resulting from the increased tariffs on specific products

The USTR timetable is as follows:

May 6, 2019 — requests to appear at the public hearing are due
May 15, 2019 — public hearing in Washington, DC
May 28, 2019 — deadline for filing comments including post-hearing rebuttal comments

For more information, please contact your local MIQ Logistics, a company of Noatum Logistics, representative.