‘Not Resolved’ Whether CTA Will Sue to Block Tariffs Hike to 25%, Says Shapiro
It’s “not resolved” whether CTA members have the will to file a lawsuit blocking the Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports before they rise to 25 percent, as scheduled for Jan. 1, CTA President Gary Shapiro told us at CTA Unveiled New York Thursday. CTA hired Akin Gump to draft a court complaint to block the tariffs and is shopping the draft around to other trade groups seeking their legal and financial support (see 1810290019).
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“We haven’t made a decision yet” whether to sue, said Shapiro. Asked to confirm if it would require an affirmative vote of CTA’s executive board to authorize the litigation or to describe other parts of the decision-making process, Shapiro said: “I’m not going to go there.”
The tariffs on Chinese goods are “at the top of our minds,” because the 10 percent duties that took effect Sept. 24 on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will jump automatically to 25 percent on Jan. 1, “unless something is done,” said Shapiro. Asked what he meant by that last statement, Shapiro said CTA members were hoping for a breakthrough if President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit later this month in Argentina.
“At this point, it will take an action” from the Trump administration to stop the hike to 25 percent, Shapiro told us. Trump and Xi agreed to meet, he said, and “one report said they’re even going to have dinner” together, he said. “So if it’s a very successful dinner, we can avoid a depression. We’re hoping there’s some sort of deal cut or delay, or something like that. So that’s one of the options.”
If the tariffs rise to 25 percent, “it will have serious ramifications for companies in our industry and many other industries, and frankly to the U.S. economy and the U.S. stock market,” said Shapiro. “Tariffs are taxes,” and the Constitution gives Congress “the right to raise taxes, not the president,” he said.
CTA doesn’t recognize e-cigarettes as a CES exhibit category, said Karen Chupka, CTA executive vice president-CES, during a news conference Q&A. That “a lot of the buildings that we use” in Las Vegas “don’t allow e-cigarettes” is one factor, she said. CES management also needs to make “day-to-day decisions about the technologies we have room for,” she said. “It is a category that we just haven’t felt that we needed to showcase at CES.”
Shapiro chimed in to say that policy won’t change anytime soon. “We’re not embracing” the e-cigarette category at CES, he said. “It’s a very controversial category. I know at my kid’s school, it’s a really, really huge issue. It’s like considered a crisis, so I don’t think we want to be in a position of facilitating it, and we made a conscious decision to go that way.”
CES opens Jan. 8 for a four-day run, featuring more than 4,500 exhibitors, including 1,200 startups, said Chupka. A new wrinkle for 2019 -- the event will showcase "companies and industries that you really wouldn't expect at CES," she said, including first-time exhibitor Procter & Gamble, which also will hold a news conference Jan. 6 on the first of two CES media days.
Connectivity and personalization "have changed the way consumers interact with nearly every product and service, and consumer packaged goods are no different," emailed P&G Friday in a statement on its CES plans. "As a first time exhibitor at CES, we will showcase new products that address changing consumer desires, using technology to transform everyday experiences. These technologies fall within our grooming, beauty, oral and home care categories."