Consumer Technology Group to Testify at USTR Hearing on Section 301 Tariffs
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative accepted the Consumer Technology Association’s request for Sage Chandler, vice president-international trade, to testify at the May 15 public hearing in opposition to the Trump administration’s proposed 25 percent tariffs on certain goods imported from China, a CTA spokeswoman said in an email. Of the 1,300 "product lines" in the USTR's list of proposed tariffs, CTA members have so far identified 190 HTS codes representing goods they import from China, and those goods were worth $25 billion last year, Chandler said in comments posted April 25.
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CTA members worry about “the impact of tariffs on their supply chains and their ability to deliver the quality products desired by U.S. consumers,” she said. “Some of our members, particularly innovative start-ups, have expressed concern that the proposed tariffs put them at a disadvantage relative to their competitors in other nations who can continue importing critical components from China at a fraction of the cost.” CTA opposes using tariffs “to address inequity in the trade relationship with China because of potential long-term negative consequences to our own economy,” Chandler said. “A better approach is to promote policy and diplomatic efforts which directly address the limitations U.S. companies face when doing business in China,” including “engagement” of the World Trade Organization’s “dispute settlement process,” she said.
The China Chamber of International Commerce also requested to testify in a filing. The USTR’s 215-page investigative report released March 22 as justification for the proposal of tariffs was flawed, said the chamber. Contrary to finding that Chinese regulations on joint-venture contracts with foreign companies hurt U.S. businesses, “no positive evidence supports the underlying determination that China has implemented laws, policies and practices that are unreasonable and burden the U.S. commerce,” said the chamber. “None of the public comments submitted by interested parties has identified any Chinese laws or regulations that mandatorily requires technology transfer, or present any real and concrete case in which the Chinese government has in practice forced transfer of technologies,” said the chamber. “Anonymous surveys” on which “the USTR’s conclusion relied heavily, are of little, if any, probative value,” it said.
Tariffs will hurt both the U.S. and China, it said. "As numerous interested persons have demonstrated, raising tariffs will not only hurt the U.S. importers, retailers and downstream industries, but also result in a higher cost of living for ordinary American people and put at risk millions of American jobs that are tied to trade with China." The chamber thinks "cooperation instead of confrontation is the only right way to resolve differences," it said. "Not only because the China-US economic and trade relationship is highly interdependent, but also because the two sides share a wide range of common interests and goals, which forms a good basis for reaching mutually acceptable solution." USTR didn’t comment.