On 2 October, the Word Trade Organization (WTO) issued a decision (DS316 European Communities and certain Member States) authorizing the US to impose retaliatory tariffs on $7.5 billion of European goods. The decision results from an ongoing dispute over subsidies Airbus received from certain European governments, which the American leaders say “seriously injured the US aerospace industry.” (DS316 European Communities and Certain Member States – Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft (https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds316_e.htm#bkmk316arb).

Among other European goods, certain Italian imports will be affected by a25% tariff. The affected goods include:

• Liqueurs and cordials;
• prepared or preserved pork hams and cuts thereof;
• Pork shoulders and cuts thereof (whether or not boned, cooked, or packed in airtight containers);
• prepared or preserved pork;
• pork sausages and similar products of pork (i.e. pork offal or blood, food preparations based on these products);
• Italian cheese from cow’s milk, processed cheese (incl. mixites) not grated or powdered;
• Emmentaler Cheese;
• Pecorino (cheese from sheep’s milk, in original loaves non suitable for grating) Reggiano, Parmesan, Provolone;
• Gruyere-process cheese (not grated or powdered);
• Blue-veined cheese (in original loaves), Cheddar cheese, Colby cheese;
• Fermented milk (dried milk whether or not with added lactic ferments);
• fats and oil derived from milk (i.e. butter substitute dairy spreads), yogurt (not in dry form, whether or not flavored or containing add fruit or cocoa);
• fruit and fruit juice (i.e. peaches, nectarines, cherries, cherry juice, and frozen fruit whether or not previously steamed or boiled);
• mixtures of fruit (excluding tropical fruit salad) and juice of any single vegetable (other than tomato);
• currant and berry fruit jellies;
• pear, pear juice, oranges, mandarins, clementines, Lemons; 
• fish (i.e. products of clams, cockles, mollusks and arkshells containing fish meat, prepared meals).

The additional duties will enter into effect on October 18, 2019.

Before the issuance of Decision DS316, theU.S. Government had previously identified certain EU goods eligible for additional US duties. On July 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative published a list of 89 tariff items with an appropriate trade value of $4 billion. With respect to the original list of products selected in the July issue, certain goods have been excluded: uncooked pasta, coffee, olives and oil, wine.

The final list modifies the Official Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). The U.S. Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements is expected to update the HTS shortly.

Available also at https://iccitalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MElchionna-PLLC-Special-Issue-Tariffs-2019-with-table.pdf