High-end home and car audio supplier AudioControl opposes Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on electronics components and materials imported from China “and used in our US manufacturing of our products” because it will “cause the adverse effect of what is intended” in trying to thwart allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices, said CEO Alex Camara in comments posted Friday in docket USTR-2018-0026.

The U.S. trade relationship with China "significantly impacts” Consumer Technology Association member companies, large and small, because they “rely on the global supply chain -- including China -- to conduct business,” said Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade. She asked to appear at Aug. 20-23 public hearings to oppose 10 percent Section 301 tariffs proposed in a July 10 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice. CTA members identified 302 tariff lines of Chinese imports in the notice, accounting for more than $109 billion in value, for which 10 percent duties “would be detrimental to their business,” Chandler said in her July 27 filing. CTA is still gathering “relevant data” on the tariffs’ possible impact on members, and the numbers she cited may need to be “updated” by the time written comments are due Aug. 17, she said.

The U.S. trade relationship with China "significantly impacts” CTA member companies, large and small, because they “rely on the global supply chain -- including China -- to conduct business,” said Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade. She was asking to appear at Aug. 20-23 public hearings to oppose 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs proposed in a July 10 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice (see 1807110034).

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years. “That’s not to say what we’re doing now will be in place for years,” Lighthizer said Thursday, testifying at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the Trump administration’s trade policy, including its proposed or implemented Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. He was repeatedly pressed on how long the administration will keep the tariffs in place or threaten new ones, amid criticism from many sectors that the duties will disproportionately increase costs on American businesses and consumers without punishing the Chinese for allegedly unfair trade practices. Only Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., gave unalloyed support to the USTR on the North American Free Trade Agreement and tariffs. Other senators from both parties hammered Lighthizer with stories about how their constituents are losing money because of tariffs. The most heated exchange was between Rep. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Lighthizer. Schatz said because of the pressure from constituents when retaliatory tariffs and ordinary tariffs bite, the U.S. can't win a game of chicken with China. “They can wait us out,” he said. “They can endure more pain over time than we can.” When Lighthizer suggested Schatz doesn’t believe China is a threat to America’s economic future, Schatz cut him off. “It just means you don’t pick stupid fights!” he said. Lighthizer, his voice rising, said, “I don’t think it’s a stupid fight!”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years. “That’s not to say what we’re doing now will be in place for years,” Lighthizer said Thursday, testifying at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the Trump administration’s trade policy, including its proposed or implemented Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. He was repeatedly pressed on how long the administration will keep the tariffs in place or threaten new ones, amid criticism from many sectors that the duties will disproportionately increase costs on American businesses and consumers without punishing the Chinese for allegedly unfair trade practices. Only Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., gave unalloyed support to the USTR on the North American Free Trade Agreement and tariffs. Other senators from both parties hammered Lighthizer with stories about how their constituents are losing money because of tariffs. The most heated exchange was between Rep. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Lighthizer. Schatz said because of the pressure from constituents when retaliatory tariffs and ordinary tariffs bite, the U.S. can't win a game of chicken with China. “They can wait us out,” he said. “They can endure more pain over time than we can.” When Lighthizer suggested Schatz doesn’t believe China is a threat to America’s economic future, Schatz cut him off. “It just means you don’t pick stupid fights!” he said. Lighthizer, his voice rising, said, “I don’t think it’s a stupid fight!”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the effort to get China to change its industrial policy and intellectual property practices will take years. “That’s not to say what we’re doing now will be in place for years,” Lighthizer said Thursday, testifying at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the Trump administration’s trade policy, including its proposed or implemented Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. He was repeatedly pressed on how long the administration will keep the tariffs in place or threaten new ones, amid criticism from many sectors that the duties will disproportionately increase costs on American businesses and consumers without punishing the Chinese for allegedly unfair trade practices. Only Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., gave unalloyed support to the USTR on the North American Free Trade Agreement and tariffs. Other senators from both parties hammered Lighthizer with stories about how their constituents are losing money because of tariffs. The most heated exchange was between Rep. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Lighthizer. Schatz said because of the pressure from constituents when retaliatory tariffs and ordinary tariffs bite, the U.S. can't win a game of chicken with China. “They can wait us out,” he said. “They can endure more pain over time than we can.” When Lighthizer suggested Schatz doesn’t believe China is a threat to America’s economic future, Schatz cut him off. “It just means you don’t pick stupid fights!” he said. Lighthizer, his voice rising, said, “I don’t think it’s a stupid fight!”

Intel opposes the proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on semiconductor imports from China, it said in comments posted Wednesday in docket USTR-2018-0018. Intel is one of many tech interests arguing this week for removing Chinese semiconductor imports from the tariffs list because most semiconductors the U.S. imports are made in the U.S., shipped to China for final, low-end assembly, testing and packaging (ATP), and then shipped back to the U.S. “No rational U.S. semiconductor company is going to incur the very high costs and other risks raised by relocating an ATP facility in China with an already established ecosystem to a green field site in another country,” said Intel. It estimates it would cost $650 million to $875 million to move an ATP plant out of China. The Internet Association wants to testify at U.S. Trade Representative hearings Aug. 20-23 to urge removing 22 tariff lines “that cover products internet companies use to function on a daily basis,” said the company in a filing posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0026. IA wants excluded from proposed 10 percent tariffs “control or adapter units for automatic data processing machines” and other components. Imposing new duties on the 22 tariff lines“would not help to correct China's practices, but would cause disproportionate economic harm to American internet companies,” said the association. Friday is the deadline for requests to appear.

Intel opposes the proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on semiconductor imports from China, it said in comments posted Wednesday in docket USTR-2018-0018. Intel is one of many tech interests arguing this week for removing Chinese semiconductor imports from the tariffs list because most semiconductors the U.S. imports are made in the U.S., shipped to China for final, low-end assembly, testing and packaging (ATP), and then shipped back to the U.S. “No rational U.S. semiconductor company is going to incur the very high costs and other risks raised by relocating an ATP facility in China with an already established ecosystem to a green field site in another country,” said Intel. It estimates it would cost $650 million to $875 million to move an ATP plant out of China. The Internet Association wants to testify at U.S. Trade Representative hearings Aug. 20-23 to urge removing 22 tariff lines “that cover products internet companies use to function on a daily basis,” said the company in a filing posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0026. IA wants excluded from proposed 10 percent tariffs “control or adapter units for automatic data processing machines” and other components. Imposing new duties on the 22 tariff lines“would not help to correct China's practices, but would cause disproportionate economic harm to American internet companies,” said the association. Friday is the deadline for requests to appear.

Element Electronics wants a slot to appear at public hearings Aug. 20-23 to urge removal of two Harmonized Tariff Schedule classifications of Chinese LCD panel imports (HTS 9013.80.90 and 8529.90.13) from the list of proposed 10 percent Section 301 tariffs, the company said in a filing posted July 26 in docket USTR-2018-0026. Element is “the sole U.S. mass assembler” of LCD TVs, producing about 2.5 million sets a year at its plant in Winnsboro, South Carolina, and is among the local county's top 20 employers, the company said. The Internet Association also wants to testify at the hearings, for the removal of 22 tariff lines “that cover products internet companies use to function on a daily basis,” including “control or adapter units for automatic data processing machines” and other components, it said in a filing posted July 26. Imposing new duties on the 22 tariff lines “would not help to correct China's practices, but would cause disproportionate economic harm to American internet companies,” the association said. July 27 is the deadline for filing requests to appear at the hearings.

It's not easy or cheap to relocate semiconductor packaging plants from China to other countries of origin to avoid tariffs, said Intel in comments posted Wednesday in docket USTR-2018-0018 opposing the proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties on Chinese semiconductor imports. Many tech interests argued this week for removing Chinese semiconductor imports from the tariffs list because most semiconductors the U.S. imports are made in the U.S., shipped to China for final, low-end assembly, testing and packaging (ATP), and then shipped back to the U.S. (see 1807240005). Imposing those duties would require U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to pay tariffs on their own products, they said. Though U.S. firms can limit or avoid their exposure to Chinese tariffs by moving their ATP plants elsewhere, "no rational U.S. semiconductor company is going to incur the very high costs and other risks raised by relocating an ATP facility in China with an already established ecosystem to a green field site in another country,” said Intel. It estimates it would cost $650 million to $875 million to move an ATP plant out of China, “depending on its size and where it would be relocated.” That includes the costs of constructing a new building and buying or leasing new land to build it on, hauling at least 80 percent of the equipment from the existing facility to the new one and buying new, “duplicative” equipment to “ensure continuous operation at the existing site while the new site is being built out,” said Intel. Other costs include paying for the labor “overlap” of two to three years “while the new site ramps up and the existing one winds down,” and the “incremental product freight incurred by relocating the plant,” it said. “China is our industry's biggest market and has some of our biggest customers,” it said. “These significant costs assume very limited disruption in servicing customers.”