May 23, 2024- The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released additional details on the codes for facemasks, gloves, and needles for tariff increases, according to USTR and HIDA. The Federal Register notice that was recently published is a follow up from last week’s White House announcement on the tariff proposal and the four-year review of the tariff lists from 2018 and 2019 conducted by USTR. The proposal for needles and syringes is a 50% tariff and for face masks and gloves the USTR proposes an increase to 25%.
Key takeaways and relevant HTSUS codes for impacted facemasks, gloves, and needles are below:
- Comments are due June 28
- Any proposed tariffs for 2024 will take effect on August 1 after being finalized
- The exclusion process is only for machinery for domestic manufacturing (not for medical products)
- USTR asks for comments on:
- Impact of the proposals on the economy and consumers
- If the tariff rate on medical products should be higher than proposed
- For facemasks, if additional statistical reporting codes under tariff subhead 6307.90.98 should be included