Tatman Savio Quoted on Sino-US Trade War and Its Impact on Hong Kong Business

In coverage of her seminar presentation “Prospering in a Time of Tariffs: How to Ensure Your Business is Not a Trade War Casualty,” the Hong Kong Trade Development Council featured remarks by Akin Gump international trade partner Tatman Savio.

The article reports that Savio noted that the U.S.-China trade conflict began in mid-2017, when the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launched a Section 301 investigation of China to see whether its “acts, policies, and practices…related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation” are unreasonable or discriminatory and restrict U.S. commerce.

She also said that President Trump was seeking to use protectionism and other policies to reduce the trade deficit between the two nations and to safeguard U.S. technology.

In addressing the concerns of her Hong Kong audience, she noted that goods from Hong Kong and Macau are excluded from the Sec. 301 tariffs, and that interested persons may request a USTR exemption for goods produced in mainland China. She pointed to this as the least costly approach.

Savio also noted that Hong Kong traders could consider tariff engineering (i.e., redesigning their products to classify in other categories not impacted by the tariffs) or shift manufacturing operations away from mainland China to a country or region not subject to the tariffs. She also pointed to lawsuits over the additional duties as an option, but a complex and costly one.

Finally, she discussed the impact of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) and how it extends the reach of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to cover a broader range of foreign investment activity in the United States.