On Sunday, President Trump issued an executive order that allows the Secretary of Treasury to defer the deadline for 90 days for payments of certain import duties, taxes and fees.
Imports subject to duties associated with anti-dumping and countervailing duties, and Section 201, 232 and 301 Trade Remedies—including products imported from China that have been hit with tariffs during the ongoing trade dispute—are not included in this relief effort.
In order to qualify for the program, an importer must demonstrate a significant financial hardship, such as showing that its operations were fully or partially shut-down in March and April by local, state or federal government authorities due to the COVID-19 outbreak and, as a result, its gross receipts for March 13-31, 2020, or April 2020 are less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019.
The Department of Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have issued a Temporary Final Rule which provides the details on how to qualify for the deferment program. The joint statement on the rule can be found here.
