USCIB Senior Director Eva Hampl participated in the Fly-In organized by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland the nationwide campaign against tariffs, combining the efforts of Farmers for Free Trade and Americans for Free Trade, of which USCIB is a member. Groups of representatives from associations and companies covered over 150 meetings with Senate and House offices from both sides of the aisle over February 6-7.

“There is general concern about the tariff actions, with many members of Congress having signed on to letters either on the section 232 tariffs or on the section 301 exclusion process,” stated Hampl. “However, there is also still a lot of apprehension about publicly pushing back against the President’s actions on tariffs. To those who expressed a desire to wait and see what happens on March 1 – the deadline for reaching a deal with China, to prevent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports increasing from 10% to 25% — we repeatedly made the point that the time to act is now, as the damage to US industry and consumers increases with every day these tariffs are in place.”

To underline these points, a new study launched showed that in the event that tariffs of 25% go into effect on March 2 on List 3, combined with various other tariffs and retaliation already in place, the net impact on U.S. jobs will be over 900,000 and the annual impact on a family of four over $750. For the complete study, please click here.

There are two pieces of legislation that were introduced in in the Senate the week of February 4, both of which have House companion bills: (1) the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act and (2) the Trade Security Act. Both attempt to push back against the President’s authority on tariff actions.

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for principal-level meetings on February 14 and 15, and these meetings will be preceded by deputy-level negotiations beginning on Monday, February 11.

USCIB Senior Director Eva Hampl will be taking part in a “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland” fly-in on Capitol Hill February 6-7. This fly-in is organized by a broad coalition of business groups that warned about the detrimental impacts of tariffs on Chinese imports on the U.S. economy in a recent press release. Tariffs Hurt the Heartland is the nationwide, non-partisan campaign opposing tariffs that is supported by over 150 trade associations from every industry, including USCIB.

The press release emphasized that new auto tariffs and tariffs on all Chinese imports would lead to 2.2 million job losses, cost the average family over $2,300 and reduce GDP by over 1%. Moreover American workers will lose nearly one million U.S. jobs if tariffs rise to 25 percent on March 1.

The report, which served as the basis for the press release, was prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide LLC.

In the continuing battle of tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and China, USCIB submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on July 23 regarding the proposed 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese imports. This list of goods followed the first consultation on proposed 25% tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, which resulted in the imposition of tariffs on $34 billion on July 6, 2018.

“Tariffs are a blunt tool with many unintended consequences on U.S. businesses,” said Eva Hampl who leads USCIB’s work on China. “They will significantly impact U.S. companies’ ability to export and create important jobs in the United States. They will also negatively impact U.S. customers, increasing competitiveness in the United States for foreign competitors. The Administration’s proposed tariff list was drawn up without significant input from the U.S. business or manufacturing community. The public comment process is the principal means to solicit information from U.S. businesses. Therefore, the Administration must use this process to ensure that its actions in this China 301 process do not inadvertently harm some of the most competitive sectors of the U.S. economy, and the hundreds of thousands of American jobs that depend on them. Tariffs should only be used as leverage toward a negotiated outcome and should not be imposed while negotiations are ongoing.”

USCIB’s comments also applauded the Administration for looking at alternative approaches, such as initiating a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute by requesting consultations with the Chinese government regarding certain specific aspects of China’s technology regulations considered in the investigation. “In addition to engaging the WTO process, this should include developing a strategy with clearly defined objectives, direct negotiating mechanism with the Chinese, targeted deliverables, and deadlines with measurable results,” added Hampl. “The Administration should also coordinate in various available forums with like-minded trading partners who are similarly afflicted by China’s actions on intellectual property rights, forced technology transfer, and discriminatory industrial policies.”

USCIB’s comments to USTR were supplemented by a separate multi-association letter on $16 billion worth of tariffs. USCIB will also put together comments on the $200 billion list of proposed additional 10% tariffs on Chinese imports.