If you were hoping for a loophole in the Trump administration’s tariff wall, Jamieson Greer just bricked it shut.
The US Trade Representative told the House Ways and Means Committee that President Trump has no interest in reinstating exclusion programs for tariffs under Sections 301 and 232. No carve-outs, no exemptions, no special treatment.
What exclusion programs are, and why killing them matters
When broad tariffs hit entire categories of goods, companies that genuinely couldn’t find domestic alternatives could apply for exemptions. During Trump’s first term, thousands of these exclusions were granted under Section 301 tariffs targeting Chinese goods. The vast majority of those have since expired.
Only 178 items received one-year extensions, and those were part of broader trade negotiations rather than any goodwill gesture. The administration also stopped accepting new Section 232 exclusion requests back in February 2025. No new exclusions have been granted since.
