Tariff Engineering: A Roadmap For U.S. Importers Facing New Challenges

You don't have to be much of a visionary to see the future with respect to importations of merchandise into the United States. President Trump has made it very clear that he plans to use tariff assessments as part of his foreign policy platform. Increased duties on imported goods have been threatened against Mexico and Canada to enlist them to strengthen their border crossing activities. We do not know whether those increased duties will be imposed.

Goods from China, however, are likely to feel the impact of increased tariffs. The President has a number of statutes that will enable him to put these tariffs in place (e.g. section 232 and section 301 of the tariff act). These programs have successfully supported the imposition of increased duties in the past, and they are likely to be used to impose higher tariffs. To put these tariffs into place, all the U.S. has to do is claim that China has not eliminated its prior trade abuses as a result of our prior tariff