China urges the U.S. “to adopt a correct attitude" on trade relations between the two countries and not try to "blackmail China because it will not work,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a Beijing news conference Thursday, reacting to the Trump administration’s announcement it will “consider” hiking the latest round of proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010069). China also urges the U.S. “to return to rationality and refrain from acting impulsively, otherwise they will end up hurting themselves,” he said.

China urges the U.S. “to adopt a correct attitude" on trade relations between the two countries and not try to "blackmail China because it will not work,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a Beijing news conference Thursday, reacting to the Trump administration’s announcement it will “consider” hiking the latest round of proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010069). China also urges the U.S. “to return to rationality and refrain from acting impulsively, otherwise they will end up hurting themselves,” he said.

China urges the U.S. “to adopt a correct attitude" on trade relations between the two countries and not try to "blackmail China because it will not work,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a Beijing news conference Thursday, reacting to the Trump administration’s announcement it will “consider” hiking the latest round of proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent (see 1808010069). China also urges the U.S. “to return to rationality and refrain from acting impulsively, otherwise they will end up hurting themselves,” he said.

Fitbit is “navigating a number of different paths” to reduce or eliminate its exposure to the Trump administration’s latest round of proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said Chief Financial Officer Ron Kisling on a Wednesday-evening earnings call. Fitbit uses Chinese contract manufacturers to produce its devices, and tariffs would increase the bill of materials costs of goods it imports to the U.S., said Kisling.

Fitbit is “navigating a number of different paths” to reduce or eliminate its exposure to the Trump administration’s latest round of proposed Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said Chief Financial Officer Ron Kisling on a Wednesday-evening earnings call. Fitbit uses Chinese contract manufacturers to produce its devices, and tariffs would increase the bill of materials costs of goods it imports to the U.S., said Kisling.

China responded to proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods under Section 301 with a new tariff threat of its own on Aug. 3. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced plans to add tariffs of between 5 percent and 25 percent on 5,207 items, said to account for about $60 billion worth of goods from the U.S. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is considering imposing tariffs of 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods (see 1808010070). "The US measures have deviated from the consensus of the two sides, leading to an escalation of trade friction between China and the United States, serious violations of relevant rules of the World Trade Organization, and damage to our national interests and people's interests," the Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation.

Tariffs "show up as a tax on the consumer and wind up resulting in lower economic growth” that can sometimes bring about "significant risk of unintended consequences,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in Q&A on the company’s quarterly earnings call on July 31. Several trade agreements “are in need of modernizing,” but in most situations, “tariffs are not the approach to doing that,” Cook said. Risks of macroeconomic issues such as an economic slowdown or currency fluctuations related to tariffs are difficult to quantify, “and we're not even trying to,” Cook said. None of Apple’s products was affected by the U.S. tariff on steel and aluminum, which took effect in June, nor two other Section 301 lists totaling about $50 billion in goods from China that were implemented.

President Donald Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to "consider" raising the third round of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent, said Lighthizer Wednesday. Increasing the rate of the tariffs is intended to give the administration "additional options to encourage China to change its harmful policies and behavior and adopt policies that will lead to fairer markets and prosperity for all of our citizens," said Lighthizer. The Chinese embassy in Washington didn't comment right away.

JLab Audio, which markets Bluetooth earbuds, headphones and speakers through Best Buy, Target and other big-box retailers, wants to testify at the Trump administration's Aug. 20-23 public hearings against proposed 10 percent Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said CEO Win Cramer in July 27 comments posted Tuesday in docket USTR-2018-0026. JLab in the past five years became “a disruptive force within the consumer electronics category growing itself to a top 5 audio brand despite the competition of much larger, seasoned brands such as Apple, Sony, Bose, and Samsung,” said Cramer. The goods that JLab imports from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 8517.62.00 subheading account for more than 80 percent of the company’s business, he said. Since JLab is “focused on a relatively narrow range of products” under HTS 8517.62.00, mainly Bluetooth earbuds and headphones, it can’t absorb the “added costs” of 10 percent tariffs “by balancing continued profits from other products,” he said. JLab also sells “almost exclusively” to the U.S. market, “so we are unable to offset increased costs in this market with profits from other global markets,” he said. “Because of this, it is our opinion that this increase in duty rate will hurt our small U.S. business, and likely other small and medium businesses, more than it will harm large multinational corporations.” Cramer fears the tariffs would “require our company to engage in cost cutting by laying off U.S. employees,” he said. The HTS 8517.62.00 code to which Cramer referred is the same “single line item” that exposes to tariffs “basically the entire ecosystem of the internet,” said Sage Chandler, CTA vice president-international trade (see 1807300002).

As critics continue ratcheting up their opposition to the Trump administration’s proposed third round of Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports, it remains to be seen how the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will accommodate all who have requested to testify in five-minute slots during four days of public hearings scheduled to begin Aug. 20. Well more than 300 people in various industries filed requests in docket USTR-2018-0026 by the July 27 deadline to appear at the hearings, virtually all of them to say they'll testify against the tariffs.