China tariffs get their baseline: USTR lets the 2018 Section 301 actions continue into a second review

The details

• The notice, published in the Federal Register on Oct. 7, 2026 (91 FR 64212), covers the two original Section 301 actions from the technology-transfer investigation: the July 6, 2018 action and the August 23, 2018 action, each as later modified.
• Under Section 307(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Act, either action would have terminated on its four-year anniversary — July 6, 2026 and August 23, 2026 — unless a representative of a U.S. industry that benefits filed a continuation request in the 60-day window beforehand. USTR opened that step with a May 6, 2026 notice (91 FR 24636).
• Requests arrived. USTR says it received 57 continuation requests for the August 23, 2018 action alone, with domestic industries reporting that China’s acts and practices have persisted and that they continue to benefit. Neither action terminated.
• Both actions “will remain in effect, subject to possible further modifications,” including whatever the review produces. USTR will publish a separate notice laying out the review process and invite comments on effectiveness, alternative actions, and economy-wide effects.
• The same day, USTR also published a technical fix: five Section 301 product exclusions were affected by USITC changes to 10-digit HTSUS statistical reporting categories that took effect July 1, 2026. Four were conformed on Sept. 2; the fifth, tied to statistical number 8479.90.9591, was corrected Oct. 7, retroactively effective to July 1.

What buyers should do

• Reset planning assumptions. Remove any 2026/2027 tariff-lapse scenario from sourcing cases involving Lists 1 and 2 coverage; treat the rates as durable until the review’s outcome is published.
• Audit your exclusion HTS codes. If you rely on a China 301 exclusion, confirm it still maps to your goods after the July 1, 2026 statistical reporting changes — the conforming notices show codes moved under importers’ feet.
• Decide whether to comment. When the review notice lands, importers can file on costs and effectiveness. Teams with China-dependent categories should prepare data now: volumes, alternatives, landed-cost impact.
• Recheck the layer stack. Continuing 301 duties stack with every later action; run a current landed-cost pass rather than assuming old models still add up.

What to watch next

• The USTR procedural notice for the second four-year review and its comment deadlines.
• Nov. 10, 2026, when 178 Section 301 product exclusions expire unless extended — see our coverage.
• Any scope or rate modifications USTR proposes once the review concludes.

The bigger picture

China tariffs are no longer an emergency to be waited out; they are infrastructure. The continuation lands in the middle of a denser stack — forced-labor duties on 60 economies and the pharma Section 232 phase-in — and shortly after the 30-for-30 framework with Beijing. For sourcing teams, the strategic question shifts from “will the 2018 tariffs end?” to “which categories survive a review that lets USTR modify, but not casually remove, the actions?”