US reinstates tariff exemptions for some Chinese textile products

On March 23, 2022, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said it will restore tariff exemptions for some products imported from China. The tariff exemption covers 352 of the previous 549 pending products. The rule will apply to goods imported from China between October 12, 2021 and December 31, 2022.

Chinese cotton products involved in the tariff exemption list published by USTR on Mar 23 are those on the tariff exemption list for the $300 billion worth of goods exported to the United States. This exclusions extended through the end of 2020. Goods with HS code 6208.91.1010 were originally included in the exemption list of $300 billion worth of goods exports to the United States, but the recent tariff exemption list does not include this HS code; the share of Chinese cotton related products exports to the United States accounted for 25%~30% of the total exports.

Chinese related textiles in the tariff exemption list

The cotton products involved are shown in bold in the table above, including 15 items. After comparison with the previous exclusion list of USTR, it is found that those cotton products have been included in the tariff exemption list of $300 billion worth of goods exporting to the United States in the previous period. After an extension, the exclusions extended through the end of 2020, in which the goods (laparotomy sponges of cotton) with HS code 6307.90.9889 continued to be exempted in the exclusion list related to Covid. The exemption expired on Nov 30, 2021, and the remaining products were not on the covid exclusion list. In other words, the laparotomy sponges of cotton is in a state of continuous exemption, which can be exempted until Dec 31, 2022 after the list is published , while the remaining products were subject to tariff from Jan 1, 2021 to Oct 11, 2021, and were exempted again from Oct 12, 2021 to Dec 31, 2022.

The goods with HS code 6208.91.1010 in the previous tariff exclusion list of $300 billion worth of goods exports to US (women' s cotton terry bathrobes with muslin trim, each beltless but featuring a hook-and-loop tab) are not on this round of tariff exemptions, meaning the goods with HS code 6208.91.1010 are no longer duty-free.

Related cotton products exports in recent years

In the past four years, export volumes were relatively flat overall, except the year of 2020 seeing sharp decline. Compared with 2020, China' s exports of women' s knit robes and cotton blankets to the U.S. increased slightly in 2021. In terms of the export shares, U.S. is China' s largest consumer of cotton blankets, with a proportion of 24%. The extension of exemption may be positive to our cotton blanket exports.

HS code remark: Women's bathrobes, dressing gowns and similar articles of cotton, knitted or crocheted (61089100), cotton blankets and travel blankets (63013000), Baby clothing and clothing accessories, of cotton, knitted or crocheted (611120), Other men's underwear, bathrobes, dressing gowns and similar articles of cotton (620791), Other bed articles of cotton, not knitted or crocheted (630231).

Viewed from the export value in the past two years, for the related products in this round of tariff exemptions, except women’s cotton bathrobes whose export value to U.S. with a share of 9%, other cotton textile exports to U.S. take a high proportion of 25-30%, which is positive for mentioned product exports. But the categories are limited, and many other cotton textiles are still imposed additional tariffs, plus the continual ban on Xinjiang cotton, so the stimulus for China cotton product consumption is limited in general.