In recent days, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office U.S. import tariff exclusions for dozens of medical products imported from China, including face masks, hand sanitizing wipes and examination gloves, agency filings showed on Friday.
Many of the exclusion requests for medical products appear to have been expedited amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, with approvals granted just over one month past a Jan. 31 application deadline.
Requests to exclude other products from President Donald Trump’s Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods have taken months. Apple Inc’s requests for exclusions on products from AirPod headphones to the HomePod smart speaker filed on Oct. 31 are still pending.
Medline International Inc has already received exclusions on 30 products ranging from surgical gowns to face masks and medicine cups, most of which the company applied for at the end of January. A number of the exclusions were granted on Thursday, USTR documents showed.
MacDailyNews Note: Of course with the COVID-19 outbreak, medical gear is worthy of being expedited over consumer electronics for U.S. import tariff exclusions.