WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Thursday it would investigate the economic impact of revoking China’s permanent normal trade status over a six-year period, a move that would likely increase tariffs on Chinese imports.
The trade panel said in a statement that it will publish the results of the probe, ordered in a congressional appropriations bill, by August 21.
When he took office in January 2025, President Donald Trump ordered his trade and commerce chiefs to assess legislative proposals to revoke Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. PNTR was first granted in 2000, allowing China to join the World Trade Organization, a move that catapulted the country into becoming the world’s biggest manufacturer.
Since his inauguration day order, Trump imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports that reached as high as 145% last year, but that had been reduced to around 20% through a series of trade negotiations before the Supreme Court last week ruled Trump’s emergency tariffs illegal.
Trump’s punitive China duties sit on top of the normal “Most Favored Nation” duties of about 2.5% that prevailed before he launched a trade war on China during his first term, imposing tariffs of about 25% on most Chinese imports.
Revoking PNTR would raise the base MFN rates, adding to whatever punitive duties Trump imposes to replace the illegal emergency tariffs under other trade authorities.
The USITC, which studies trade and competitiveness matters and rules on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade cases, said its report would focus on U.S. trade, production and prices in the industries that could be directly and most affected by increasing tariffs on Chinese goods to the higher non-MFN rates.
The panel said it would also examine an alternative scenario where Congress revokes PNTR treatment with a five-year phase-in of a subset of tariffs on products important for national security.
The USITC said the public was invited to file written comments on the implications of raising these tariffs on Chinese imports, through the close of business on April 13. Due to the accelerated timeline, the commission said it does not plan to hold a public hearing.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Daphne Psaledakis and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by David Ljunggren and Mark Porter)
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