Impact of US tariffs on exporters and importers

In this expert-led UK roundtable, a former senior US Customs and Border Protection official and a UK customs, excise and VAT consultant discuss the impact of US tariffs on exporters and importers, and what traders can do in practice to avoid costly mistakes.

Topics covered:

• The current US tariff landscape: the flat baseline duty on imports, additional sector-specific duties, and legal challenges to presidential tariff authority
• Ongoing US trade investigations into critical minerals, seafood, port cranes, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and the punitive duty rates that can follow
• The changing role and relevance of the World Trade Organization
• US non-preferential rules of origin and the value of obtaining a pre-entry (binding) ruling before importing
• The US drawback system and how much unclaimed duty is left on the table by exporters
• Using foreign trade zones and bonded/customs warehousing in the US, EU, UK and Canada for cash-flow and duty deferral, including "tariff inversion" in the automotive sector
• The US "first sale rule" for calculating dutiable value
• Tariff engineering and origin/content engineering to secure a lower duty rate or preferential tariff treatment
• Historical and legal background: the Jones Act, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, and the Harley-Davidson case on local content
• Why customs knowledge, training and planning matter more, not less, as trade rules become more complex

For a broader overview of the topic, please watch the full recording. The slides are available in the Resources section.

Please note that this summary was generated using AI, based on the recording and available slides.