As reported in our prior update on April 2, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO”) imposing sweeping tariffs on a broad range of imports from virtually all trading partners.
The text of the EO references two annexes. According to Sections 2 and 3(a) of the EO, Annex I sets forth the country-specific reciprocal tariff rates scheduled to go into effect on April 9 for those trading partners where the rate is set to increase above the 10 percent baseline. Section 3(b) of the EO also states that Annex II set forth a list of products excluded from the IEEPA tariffs.
Annex II, in turn, references an Annex III that is not specifically mentioned in the main text of the EO. Annex III is not linked in the EO published on the White House website, but has been made available via a separate link. Importantly, Annex III sets forth the specific codes in Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (“HTS”) to be used to implement the various tariff rates and exclusions set forth in the text of the EO.
Part I of Annex III details the relevant Chapter 99 HTS codes to be used between April 5 and April 9. Part 2 of Annex III details the relevant Chapter 99 HTS codes to be used after the country-specific reciprocal rates go into effect on April 9. Parts 3 and 4 of Annex III implement the 12 percent IEEPA duty rate applicable to Canada and Mexico if the prior Executive Orders related to immigration and opioid concerns are revoked. And, finally, Part 5 of Annex III implements the remaining HTS provisions necessary to implement the EO.
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