Hybrid Engineered Oak Flooring Among Products Excluded From 25% Chinese Tariffs

Hybrid engineered flooring with an oak veneer and stone-plastic composite core and flooring with a hardwood veneer and waterproof stone-polymer composite base are among products that have been granted exemption from the 25% tariffs imposed by the U.S. on $200 billion worth of Chinese products.

In May, the U.S. announced it would increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10% to 25%. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) established an exclusion request process the following month, in which stakeholders could request exemption. This month, the USTR announced the following products would be excluded from the tariffs:

“Engineered flooring, of oak, consisting of a 1.2 mm thick oak veneer top layer, 5.8 mm stone-plastic composite core and a 2 mm polyethylene backing, such flooring coated with aluminum oxide, measuring not over 191 cm long by 19 cm wide by 0.9 cm thick.”

“Flooring panels constructed of a hardwood veneer measuring 0.6 mm or more but not over 1.2 mm in thickness laminated onto a waterproof stone-polymer composite base, with the thickness of each panel between 5 mm and 7.5 mm, with tongue and groove mechanism for installation and an attached foam pad.”

Several snap-together and click-together vinyl floor products also received exemptions from the tariffs. The exclusions will apply from Sept. 24, 2018, (the date the 10% Chinese tariffs went into effect) to Aug. 7, 2020.

The USTR stated it looked at the following factors when determining the exclusions: whether the particular product is available only from China and specifically whether the particular product and/or a comparable product is available from sources in the United States and/or third countries; whether the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause severe economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests; and whether the particular product is strategically important or related to “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs.

The USTR said it will “continue to issue determinations on pending requests on a periodic basis.”

The list of excluded products can be found here.

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