Update 5/29/2018:
US Tariffs on Chinese Pharmaceuticals and Other Products Moving Forward
Posted: 4/04/2018:
Several weeks ago, the Trump administration announced that it would impose new tariffs under Section 301 on certain goods imported from China, without specifying which goods would be impacted (the purpose of the tariffs is to combat China’s alleged unfair trade practices in the areas of intellectual property and technology transfer). Yesterday (April 3rd), the U.S. published the proposed list of products which would be subject to these new 25% tariffs; if these tariffs are ultimately adopted, they will be in addition to the tariffs already charged on these imports.
The proposed new tariffs impact a wide range of products of particular concern to the pharmaceutical industry. Examples include:
Pharmaceutical Products
- Medicaments, both in bulk and in dosage form (these currently enter free of duty)
- Vaccines for human and veterinary medicine
- Immunological products
- Antisera, blood, and blood fractions
- Reagents
- Adhesive dressings
Organic Chemicals
- Various aromatic drugs, agents, compounds, and derivatives
- Various nonaromatic drugs
- Quinone drugs
- Prostaglandins
- Epinephrine
- Lidocaine
Jessica Rifkin, Affiliated Customs Attorney, weighed in, “the inclusion of the medicaments headings is especially problematic for our clients because it cuts off one of the main ways that they’ve been able to bring drugs/APIs in clinical trials in duty free (if they’re coming from China). If this ultimately stands, they’d have to either bring them in under the prototype provision or as a TIB (Temporary Importation Under Bond) entry, both of which contain lots of documentary requirements and represent additional challenges.”
These proposed tariffs are not final yet – the U.S Trade Representative will be accepting written comments from the public until May 11th, 2018, and will hold a public hearing on May 15th, 2018. Contact us at contact@fdaimports.com for help drafting your official correspondence to USTR. If these tariffs will impact you, it is critical that you submit comments and make your voice heard.
This blog is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, and is not intended to form an attorney-client relationship. Please contact your regular FDAImports representative for additional information.
