Trump tariffs prompt rising fear, anger from GOP, business

BY VICKI NEEDHAM - 07/11/18 05:35 PM EDT

 

Business groups and congressional Republicans expressed increasing frustration on Wednesday with President Trump’s escalating trade fight with China. 

They say it’s time for the U.S. and China to get back to the negotiating table and hammer out a deal that would stop the steady stream of tit-for-tat steep tariffs. 

 

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The Trump administration’s latest salvo would apply a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, which is in response to Beijing’s retaliation for a previous round of U.S. duties.  

A final decision on the tariffs will be made sometime after Aug. 30.

The latest list of targeted Chinese imports, which was released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday night, comes on the heels of the U.S. move to levy a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion in Chinese imports. 

China immediately struck back with retaliatory tariffs on $34 billion of U.S. goods.

The U.S. and China each have said they will impose tariffs on another $16 billion of each other’s goods in the coming months, adding up to $50 billion total by each country. 

The fight drew ire from technology, manufacturing, agriculture and retailing groups, which argue that Trump’s tariffs will hurt U.S. consumers and businesses. 

“The last thing America’s manufacturing workers need is an escalating trade war,” said Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

“America has China’s attention, so instead of more tariffs, the U.S. and China should immediately begin working toward a fair, bilateral, enforceable, rules-based trade agreement to end China’s market-distorting activities,” Timmons said. “We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

The Trump administration said the $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese products is necessary because of Beijing’s failure to change what they consider a long history of unfair trade practices.

But critics such as Dean Garfield, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council that represents companies such as Apple and Google, argue they don’t see a real strategy.

He faulted the administration for imposing more tariffs “without a clear objective or end in sight, threatening American jobs, stifling economic investment and increasing the prices of everyday goods.”

David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, said another $200 billion in tariffs “doubles down on a reckless strategy that will boomerang back to harm U.S. families and workers.”

“The administration has been pursuing tariffs now for months and we still don’t know what the endgame is,” he said.

To bolster its case for tariffs, the USTR produced a 200-page report highlighting how it said China's forced transfer and theft of intellectual property and technology has damaged the U.S. economy.