To Further Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition From Imports of Large Residential Washers

Published date28 January 2020
Citation85 FR 5125
Record Number2020-01650
SectionPresidential Documents
CourtExecutive Office Of The President
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
                [Presidential Documents]
                [Pages 5125-5127]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2020-01650]
                [[Page 5123]]
                Vol. 85
                Tuesday,
                No. 18
                January 28, 2020
                Part IIIThe President-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                Proclamation 9979--To Further Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
                Competition From Imports of Large Residential Washers
                 Presidential Documents
                Federal Register / Vol. 85 , No. 18 / Tuesday, January 28, 2020 /
                Presidential Documents
                ___________________________________________________________________
                Title 3--
                The President
                [[Page 5125]]
                 Proclamation 9979 of January 23, 2020
                
                To Further Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
                 Competition From Imports of Large Residential Washers
                 By the President of the United States of America
                 A Proclamation
                 1. On January 23, 2018, pursuant to section 203 of the
                 Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``Trade Act'') (19
                 U.S.C. 2253), I issued Proclamation 9694, which imposed
                 a safeguard measure for a period of 3 years plus 1 day
                 comprising both a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on imports of
                 large residential washers (washers) provided for in
                 subheadings 8450.11.00 and 8450.20.00 of the Harmonized
                 Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) and a TRQ on
                 covered washer parts provided for in subheadings
                 8450.90.20 and 8450.90.60 of the HTS. I exempted
                 covered imports from Canada and certain designated
                 beneficiary countries under the Generalized System of
                 Preferences from the application of the measure.
                 2. On August 7, 2019, the United States International
                 Trade Commission (USITC) issued its report pursuant to
                 section 204(a)(2) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
                 2254(a)(2)), on the results of its monitoring of
                 developments with respect to the domestic washers
                 industry (USITC, Large Residential Washers: Monitoring
                 Developments in the Domestic Industry, No. TA-204-013).
                 In its report, the USITC found that imports peaked in
                 November and December of 2017, just before the
                 safeguard measure was imposed, and again in February
                 and March of 2019, at the opening of the second TRQ
                 period. More recent data from U.S. Customs and Border
                 Protection indicate that the number of imported units
                 exceeded the 1.2-million-unit annual limit qualifying
                 for the in-quota rate well before the end of the year
                 in the first year of the measure and in less than 3
                 months in the second year of the measure.
                 3. Section 204(b)(1)(B) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
                 2254(b)(1)(B)) authorizes the President, upon petition
                 of the majority of the representatives of the domestic
                 industry, to reduce, modify, or terminate an action
                 taken under section 203 of the Trade Act when the
                 President determines that the domestic industry has
                 made a positive adjustment to import competition.
                 4. After taking into account the information provided
                 in the USITC's report, and after receiving a petition
                 from the representative of the majority of the domestic
                 industry, I have determined that the domestic industry
                 has begun to make positive adjustment to import
                 competition but that, despite that adjustment,
                 increased imports of washers at peak times of the year
                 have impaired the effectiveness of the action I
                 proclaimed in 2018 under section 203 of the Trade Act,
                 and modification of the action is warranted.
                 5. Section 204(b)(2) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
                 2254(b)(2)) also authorizes the President to take such
                 additional action under section 203 of the Trade Act as
                 may be necessary to eliminate any circumvention of any
                 action previously taken under such section. Pursuant to
                 section 203(a)(3)(B) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
                 2253(a)(3)(B)), the President may proclaim a TRQ on the
                 imported article.
                 6. I have further determined that additional action is
                 necessary to eliminate circumvention of the TRQ by
                 ensuring that within-quota quantities of imports of
                 washers are spread throughout the year, thus
                 eliminating the possibility
                [[Page 5126]]
                 that importers' concentration of imports of washers in
                 a limited period would distort the quantity of washers
                 in the U.S. market and undermine the positive effect of
                 the TRQ on the domestic industry's adjustment to import
                 competition. Accordingly, I have decided to allocate,
                 on a quarterly basis, within-quota quantities of 1.2
                 million washers during the third year of the action,
                 beginning February 7, 2020.
                 7. Section 604 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2483)
                 authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the
                 substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, and
                 of other acts affecting import treatment, and actions
                 thereunder, including the removal, modification,
                 continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other
                 import restriction.
                 NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
                 United States of America, acting under the authority
                 vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
                 United States, including but not limited to sections
                 203, 204, and 604 of the Trade Act, do proclaim that:
                 (1) In order to modify the quantitative limitations
                 applicable to imports of washers under HTS subheadings
                 8450.11.00 and 8450.20.00, by allocating the within-
                 quota quantities for the third quota year on a
                 quarterly basis, subchapter III of chapter 99 of the
                 HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex to this
                 proclamation.
                 (2) Any provision of previous proclamations and
                 Executive Orders that is inconsistent with the actions
                 taken in this proclamation is superseded to the extent
                 of such inconsistency.
                 (3) The modifications to the HTS made by this
                 proclamation, including the Annex hereto, shall be
                 effective with respect to goods entered for
                 consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for
                 consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern standard
                 time on February 7, 2020, and shall continue in effect
                 as provided in the Annex to this proclamation, unless
                 such actions are earlier expressly reduced, modified,
                 or terminated. One year from the termination of the
                 safeguard measure established in this proclamation, the
                 U.S. note and tariff provisions established in the
                 Annex to this proclamation shall be deleted from the
                 HTS.
                 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
                 twenty-third day of January, in the year of our Lord
                 two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the
                 United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                 fourth.
                
                
                 (Presidential Sig.)
                Billing code 3295-F0-P
                [[Page 5127]]
                [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD28JA20.036
                [FR Doc. 2020-01650
                Filed 1-27-20; 11:15 a.m.]
                Billing code 7020-02-C
                

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