Termination of Actions in the Section 301 Digital Services Tax Investigations of Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom and Further Monitoring

On November 1, 2021, the Office of the United States Trade Representative published in the Federal Register (86 FR 64590) Termination of Actions in the Section 301 Digital Services Tax Investigations of Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom and Further Monitoring.

Agathon Associates previously reported this agreement will avert imposition of retaliatory tariffs on:

• Certain apparel and footwear from the U.K.,
• Certain travel goods, apparel of wool, cashmere, or other fibers, and footwear from Italy,
• Certain textiles from Austria, and
• Travel goods, footwear, and hats from Spain.

USTR Announces, and Immediately Suspends, Tariffs in Section 301 Digital Services Taxes Investigations

On June 2, 2021, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the conclusion of the one-year Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The final determination in those investigations is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, while suspending the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the OECD and in the G20 process.

As reported March 31, 2021, the U.S. planned to impose 25% tariffs on:

• Certain apparel and footwear from the U.K.,
• Certain wool yarn and brassieres from India,
• Certain carpets and home textiles from Turkey,
• Certain travel goods, apparel of wool, cashmere, or other fibers, and footwear from Italy,
• Certain textiles from Austria, and
• Travel goods, footwear, and hats from Spain