Trade Wars
It’s never a good thing for companies that have physical supply chains to hear words like “trade wars.” But if your organization ships goods internationally, or deals with steel and aluminum imports from China, the U.S. government has put a few things into play that you need to know about.
Nexterus International Operations Manager Peggy Stewart gave us more details about what’s at stake and how Nexterus can help your organization get ahead of potential issues.
What is the issue here?
The U.S. government has decided to raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China. As of June 1st, the U.S. wants to add a lot of the EU countries, South America, Africa into it the mix. Also, there is a proposal in front of the U.S. Trade Office that lists about 200 different commodities out of China that may be subject to additional duties.
What is the impact on organizations that ship according to those guidelines?
If you’re an importer you’re very much aware of what’s going on. But you may need help to determine if you will be subject to this duty. That’s where Nexterus can help.
We took it upon ourselves to notify our customers if they’re going to be impacted by this new regulation and the additional duties that may be forthcoming. On the proposed ruling from China we have not done the same thing, only because it’s such a huge list of commodities. And there’s no need to do it if it doesn’t actually happen. We’ll know more on June 1st.
Of course, if our customers are concerned and ask us to then yes, we will go ahead and run the classifications they’ve used for the last year, and get an idea if they’re going to be affected by the increased duties.
So, Nexterus is a data fueled resource that companies can take advantage of to assess whether the new trade wars will impact their business?
Yes. We can look at the commodities that you bring in and determine if any of those commodities fall under the tariff numbers that customs is looking to increase the duty on. We can run a report on this information for existing customers to see if they will be affected in any way. Then we can assess what steps are important to minimize the impact on their business.
For new customers, we can walk them through the necessary steps. Nexterus can review the HTS numbers currently used to confirm if they are accurate and see if they fall within the proposed increases.
If they’re not sure of their products, we can help them determine the HTS or the classification that their product should be under. We can also review the classifications to see if they’re classified correctly and help them determine if they will fall under the proposed increase.
What’s at stake?
For affected companies, this new ruling could mean an increase of duties of 25 percent on the value of their goods. That’s a lot of money.
That would eat up a good chunk of their profits.
Exactly.
How beneficial is it to know ahead of time where you stand?
Extremely beneficial because that way companies know how to value their goods for commerce and sale in the United States – if they’re going to be subject to this additional duty.
What can clients expect from Nexterus?
We’ll take their spreadsheet of HTS numbers, if they have it, and review the numbers against the proposed duty increases. Then we’ll come back, and let them know if any of it will be affected. If they don’t have a list of all the HTS numbers then we can help them to develop one. Unfortunately, the HTS numbers range from plastics to machine parts, so it’s kind of hard to put it in one bucket. A wide range of HTS numbers will be affected by the proposed ruling.
