Newly Hiked 15% Tariff Would Add $31 to Cost of Average Chinese TV Import
The 15 percent Section 301 tariffs taking effect in less than a week on Chinese-sourced TVs and other consumer tech goods would add roughly $31 in cost to the average set imported to the U.S., using the 9.28 million TVs shipped here in 2019's first half as a base, we found from analyzing Census Bureau trade statistics through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool.
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The Trump administration hiked all new and existing tariffs by 5 percentage points across the board Friday, hours after the Chinese levied duties on $75 billion in U.S. goods in retaliation for the List 4 tariffs taking effect Sept. 1 and Dec. 15 (see 1908230006). The situation took a sharply more positive turn Monday when President Donald Trump announced on the sidelines of the G7 summit that trade negotiations with the Chinese will resume.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative soon will initiate a new “notice and comment period” to raise the first three rounds of tariffs to 30 percent from 25 percent, but it’s predisposed to hiking the rate Oct. 1, said the agency Friday. Section 307 of the 1974 Trade Act requires USTR to “consult” with “representatives of the domestic industry concerned” when modifying an existing Section 301 tariff action. The statute also requires USTR to “provide opportunity for the presentation of views by other interested persons affected by the proposed modification.”
USTR will publish details soon in a Federal Register notice, it said. It's unclear whether USTR will hold a public hearing or just accept written comments. Public hearings on the four rounds of tariffs collectively spanned 18 days and drew more than 900 witnesses. The notice and comment period is required under the statute for hiking the first three rounds of tariffs by 5 percentage points because USTR capped the duties at 25 percent when it wrote those actions into law last year. A notice and comment period isn’t required for hiking Lists 4A and 4B by 5 points because USTR wrote those actions into law Aug. 14 at 10 percent but with the flexibility of imposing duties “up to” 25 percent.
The "statement holds" that CTA is reviewing all options, emailed Vice President-Communications Tyler Suiters Sunday when we asked if a litigation strategy was still on the table that would block the tariffs. CTA shopped a draft complaint to other trade groups last fall alleging USTR overstepped its authority to bring additional retaliatory tariffs without launching a new Section 301 investigation (see 1810290019) but never brought it to court.
“Enough is enough,” reacted CTA President Gary Shapiro Friday to the new tariff escalation. He cited Friday’s 623-point drop in the Dow as evidence that “global markets are reeling on fears of a global recession.” Tariffs are “taxes on Americans, putting us on the wrong economic path and compromising our global leadership,” said Shapiro. Trump took a sharply different tack when he told reporters Saturday “our tariffs are working out very well for us,” and “people don't understand that yet.” The U.S. is “taking in tens of billions of dollars” in tariffs, said Trump. “China is paying for it.”
The president also responded “not at all” when reporters asked if he thought his Friday tariff tweets bore responsibility for the day’s 623-point Dow decline. The market is up “50 percent or more” since the day after his 2016 election, he said. “We’re at 25,000, so don’t tell me about 600 points.”
It’s a “very positive development for the world” that China and the U.S. agreed to restart negotiations on a comprehensive trade deal, said Trump Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France. Talks were previously scheduled to resume next month in Washington, but Trump held open the possibility last week of canceling them as tensions escalated.
"China called last night our top trade people and said, 'Let's get back to the table,'" said Trump. "So we'll be getting back to the table and I think they want to do something." But a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said Monday he was "not aware of the phone calls over the weekend."