NRF CEO Optimistic Trade War Will Ebb, Might Join Legal Challenge if US Hikes Tariffs
The National Retail Federation is optimistic about de-escalation of the U.S.-China trade war but won’t close the door on joining a legal challenge if the Trump administration hikes 10 percent tariffs to 25 percent after March 1, CEO Matthew Shay…
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told us Tuesday. “I’m not sure we’re ready to go there yet,” said Shay of a court challenge. CTA, which teamed with NRF to oppose the tariffs, was shopping around a draft complaint in the fall with other trade groups, seeking backing to support a court challenge if levies rose to 25 percent after Jan. 1. The administration postponed the increase for 90 days to give negotiators a chance to hammer out a comprehensive trade agreement. NRF hasn't discussed joining a court challenge with CTA, Shay told us. “If you look at the pattern” by which some penalties “unfolded,” administration officials have gone “out of their way to try to avoid unnecessarily harming consumers,” with some “exceptions,” he said. “We think they understand the potential ramifications” of hiking the tariffs to 25 percent, he said. NRF remains “hopeful we’ll some real progress” in diffusing U.S-Chinese trade tensions, “as opposed to escalating or doubling down on something we think is not going to be productive for the economy,” said Shay.