(September 18, 2018) Yesterday, President Trump followed through on the threat to impose additional duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The additional duties will start at 10% and will go into effect on September 24th.

Further, the additional duties will increase to 25% on January 1. The President has also said he is prepared to place tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports “if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries”.

“For months, we have urged China to change these unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies,” Mr. Trump said. “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”

White House officials said on Monday that China could win relief from the tariffs by acceding to the administration’s trade demands, including allowing American companies greater access to the China market and dropping its requirement that American companies hand over valuable technology to Chinese partners.

Officials said the United States would only continue trade negotiations if the Chinese were “serious” about giving ground on those issues.

The list of items affected by this latest tariff related increase can be found HERE:

These tariffs come on the heels of continued pricing and availability instability of China sourced Dyes, Chemicals, and Chemical Processing Intermediates.  This instability is driven by sudden factory closures in China due to increased environmental monitoring, inspections, and concerns.

In a report from Reuters, June 11, 2018: “The government of China will expand environmental inspections to more cities and regions in a fresh round of checks as part of a three-year anti-pollution plan, according to Reuters. China’s 13th five-year plan (2016–20) has made higher environmental standards a top priority. The Chinese government, led by the Ministry of Ecological Environment (MEE), launched in 2016 a crackdown on polluters that includes safety inspections and potential closures of polluting chemical plants. The program includes relocating new and existing chemical plants from populated areas to designated chemical industry parks. The other sectors reportedly impacted by the anti-pollution drive have been textiles, energy, heavy metals, coal and gas, mining, cement, paper, automobile, and consumer goods.”

Organic Dye and Pigments LLC’s Supply and Sourcing Team will continue working to obtain products at the most competitive prices available, and will monitor the Chinese tariff situation and supply/pricing disruptions, which could last well in to next year.