Element Electronics wants a slot to appear at public hearings Aug. 20-23 to urge removing 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 Trade Act Section 301 tariffs, said the company in a filing posted Thursday 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, said the company. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative dealt Element a potential blow July 10 when it released its third round of proposed tariffs targeting LCD panels for the first time, despite Element’s testimony in the first round of tariffs urging that flat-panels be excluded from the duties (see 1807110034). Element responded with an angry letter to the USTR’s office last week threatening to close Winnsboro and terminate the remaining 136 workers unless LCD panels are “immediately excluded from consideration” for the 10 percent tariffs (see 1807200056). It leveled no such threats in the filing posted Thursday. 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 Thursday. 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 filing requests to appear at the hearings.

Anything that goes against free trade between the world's two largest economies "could eventually have a macro effect that would be detrimental to everybody,” said Texas Instruments Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi on a Tuesday-evening earnings call, about the Trump administration’s proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs against Chinese semiconductor imports (see 1807240005). TI sees no “direct impact other than some minimal impact” if those tariffs take effect, he said. TI draws only about 13 percent of its revenue from products it imports to the U.S., he said. “Only a sliver of that has Chinese origin,” he said. “Only about 1 percent of our revenue would have those tariffs applied to it,” and that's before TI makes “any adjustments” in its supply chain “and other things that we could do to even minimize that impact further,” he said. The earnings call was TI's first since it named Chairman Rich Templeton to return to his former CEO role, replacing Brian Crutcher, who resigned for allegedly violating the company's code of conduct in his personal behavior (see 1807180062). Templeton, who didn't appear on the call, is "fully engaged" and busy "executing our strategy," said Dave Pahl, vice president-investor relations.

Anything that goes against free trade between the world's two largest economies "could eventually have a macro effect that would be detrimental to everybody,” said Texas Instruments Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi on a Tuesday-evening earnings call, about the Trump administration’s proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs against Chinese semiconductor imports (see 1807240005). TI sees no “direct impact other than some minimal impact” if those tariffs take effect, he said. TI draws only about 13 percent of its revenue from products it imports to the U.S., he said. “Only a sliver of that has Chinese origin,” he said. “Only about 1 percent of our revenue would have those tariffs applied to it,” and that's before TI makes “any adjustments” in its supply chain “and other things that we could do to even minimize that impact further,” he said. The earnings call was TI's first since it named Chairman Rich Templeton to return to his former CEO role, replacing Brian Crutcher, who resigned for allegedly violating the company's code of conduct in his personal behavior (see 1807180062). Templeton, who didn't appear on the call, is "fully engaged" and busy "executing our strategy," said Dave Pahl, vice president-investor relations.

Anything that goes against free trade between the world's two largest economies "could eventually have a macro effect that would be detrimental to everybody,” said Texas Instruments Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi on a Tuesday-evening earnings call, about the Trump administration’s proposed 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs against Chinese semiconductor imports (see 1807240005). TI sees no “direct impact other than some minimal impact” if those tariffs take effect, he said. TI draws only about 13 percent of its revenue from products it imports to the U.S., he said. “Only a sliver of that has Chinese origin,” he said. “Only about 1 percent of our revenue would have those tariffs applied to it,” and that's before TI makes “any adjustments” in its supply chain “and other things that we could do to even minimize that impact further,” he said. The earnings call was TI's first since it named Chairman Rich Templeton to return to his former CEO role, replacing Brian Crutcher, who resigned for allegedly violating the company's code of conduct in his personal behavior (see 1807180062). Templeton, who didn't appear on the call, is "fully engaged" and busy "executing our strategy," said Dave Pahl, vice president-investor relations.

It's not easy or cheap relocating semiconductor packaging plants from China to other countries of origin to avoid tariffs, Intel said in comments posted July 25 in docket USTR-2018-0018 opposing the proposed 25 percent 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 1807240045). 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,” Intel said. It estimates it would cost anywhere from $650 million to $875 million to move an ATP plant out of China, “depending on its size and where it would be relocated,” it said.

Pier 1 Imports does not expect major ramifications from proposed 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on a wide range of goods from China (see 1807110050), the company said in a news release. "Consistent with recent years, approximately 59% of the Company’s fiscal 2019 net sales are expected to be derived from merchandise produced in China," the company said. "Of that amount, approximately half is expected to consist of product classes subject to the proposed tariff." While Pier 1 is looking at "strategies to mitigate the impact of the proposed tariff, including collaborative efforts with its vendor partners," it "does not expect financial results in fiscal 2019 to be materially affected," the company said. Still "there can be no assurance as to the final scope of the proposed tariff or the course or timing of trade negotiations," it said.

The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Trade is trying to force the administration to disclose information about its decision-making process on tariffs. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., would have to get the House Speaker to bring the resolution up for a vote, in addition to securing a majority vote. The resolution asks for documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations that explain why the president chose a global 25 percent tariff on steel after the Commerce Department gave a global 24 percent tariff as one option, and why he made the aluminum tariff 10 percent, rather than 7.7 percent, as laid out by Commerce. It also asks for information on how the administration intends to help exporters hurt in the trade war, and its strategy on resolving the problems laid out in the Section 301 report, either through multilateral action or through negotiations with China.

The chemicals industry deserves to be spared from a $16 billion tranche of Section 301 tariffs, Ed Brzytwa, the director of international trade for the American Chemistry Council, said during a July 25 hearing on the tariffs. After testimony from more than a half-dozen businesses that import, manufacture or use imported chemical inputs, he explained that the U.S. chemicals industry has a cost advantage over China now because of cheap natural gas. Because China imports more than $5 billion a year in chemical compounds and plastics from the U.S., the industry's a natural target for retaliation. That -- paired with the fact that many chemical and plastic manufacturers need Chinese inputs -- means that putting chemicals on the list is doubly painful.

CTA wants the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to remove 54 tariff lines from the list of imports from China targeted for a second tranche of 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 duties, said Sage Chandler, vice president-international trade, in comments filed Monday in docket USTR-2018-0018. Chandler’s testimony Tuesday at the USTR’s public hearing on the proposed tariffs (see 1807230032) reflects “what is in the comments,” that CTA worries tariffs will bring “disproportionate” harm to U.S. consumers and businesses without thwarting allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices, emailed CTA spokeswoman Izzy Santa.

Several tech industry allies will testify Tuesday against 25 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on imports from China on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's first of two days of hearings, said a new witness list. Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade, will speak, as expected (see 1807200059). Logitech and Universal Electronics will argue for excluding remote controls and other devices imported from China, their comments in docket USTR-2018-0018 showed. The “vast majority” of Universal’s remotes are manufactured in Chinese factories that Universal owns and operates, said CEO Paul Arling, who will testify. Imposing the additional duties on those products “would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests, including small- or medium-size businesses and consumers,” by forcing higher subscription costs for pay-TV and over-the-top services, said Arling. Many of the spare parts and components U.S. companies import from China “are in fact made by other U.S. companies,” said Jonathan Davis, global vice president-industry advocacy at Semi, which represents electronics industry supply-chain interests. Those companies hold on to their own intellectual property and “only perform low-value manufacturing in China, while the high value-added work is completed in the United States,” said Davis. Josh Kallmer, senior vice president-global policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, will testify for excluding several tariff lines on diodes and integrated circuits, he told the USTR. David Isaacs, Semiconductor Industry Association vice president-government affairs, who will testify on the same panel as Kallmer, said that such tariffs on semiconductors would “fail to address problematic Chinese forced tech transfer and IP theft. Chinese companies export almost no semiconductors to the U.S. market. Most U.S. semiconductor imports from China are semiconductors designed and manufactured in the U.S., and then shipped to China for the final stage."