The United States suddenly announced an extension of tariff exemptions! Involving these textiles

On May 31st local time, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced that it will extend the tariff exemption period for some products in the Section 301 investigation into China's behavior, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The exemption originally scheduled to expire on May 31, 2025 has been extended to 11:59 PM Easte

On May 31st local time, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced that it will extend the tariff exemption period for some products in the Section 301 investigation into China's behavior, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The exemption originally scheduled to expire on May 31, 2025 has been extended to 11:59 PM Eastern Time on August 31, 2025.

he announcement shows that the extension of tariff exemptions for some products by the United States is based on a continuous evaluation of the public opinions received on the announcement on December 29, 2023, as well as the opinions submitted during the four-year review process. The tariff exemption has been extended for another 3 months, including 164 original exclusions and 14 new exclusions:
The products covered by Annex A: These are the products corresponding to the extended 164 exclusion items in the announcement dated May 30, 2024 (89 FR 46948), involving children's products, pump components, chemical materials, electronic components, medical supplies, and other goods.
The products covered by Annex B: These are the products corresponding to the 14 exclusion items added in the announcement on September 18, 2024 (89 FR 76581), mainly targeting solar manufacturing equipment, silicon wafer manufacturing equipment, and wafer handling equipment, such as silicon growth furnaces, polycrystalline silicon ingot furnaces, wafer cutting machines, diamond wire saws, etc.
Among them, Attachment A includes various types of textiles such as backpacks, medical textiles, home textiles, and infant and toddler textiles

This is already the fourth extension of tariff exemptions since 2022, and this time it was suddenly announced just a few hours before expiration.
Seemingly simple administrative decisions conceal subtle changes in the economic and trade relations between the two countries. Kong Qingjiang, Dean of the Institute of Foreign Rule of Law at China University of Political Science and Law, told Hong Kong Wen Wei Po that the US extension of partial exemption from tariffs under Section 301 on China can be understood as a legal and routine measure. Essentially, this is a favorable choice for the US itself and cannot be interpreted as a precursor to the relaxation of US trade restrictions on China.
On the one hand, the United States is unable to obtain similar products from other countries in certain areas of goods; On the other hand, even if similar products can be imported from other countries, it often requires higher costs than importing from China. This makes it difficult for the United States to adjust its import sources and has to partially exempt tariffs to meet the actual needs of the domestic market.