Over 6,000 plaintiffs challenged the List 3 and List 4A tariffs as unlawful under Section 301 by filing lawsuits in September 2020, arguing that the USTR exceeded its authority and imposed tariffs on Chinese imports without attempting to connect the tariffs to any underlying investigation of China’s trade practices.

The court asked the USTR, however, to comply with the requirement of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) for “reasoned response to comments submitted during the rulemaking proceedings.”

The plaintiffs argued that the USTR violated the APA and exceeded its statutory authority when it shared List 3 and List 4A.

USTR’s response adequacy to certain comments and the extent of USTR’s remand results that comprise impermissible post hoc reasoning were the other arguments from the plaintiffs.

The US apparel, footwear and retail sectors and the textile industry have divergent opinions following this, over the impact of Section 301 tariffs on China.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)