China Chamber of International Commerce Wants to Testify Against Tariffs

The China Chamber of International Commerce opposes the Trump administration’s imposition of 25 percent tariffs on Chinese imports (see 1804040023) and wants to send delegates from Beijing to the U.S. Trade Representative’s May 15 hearing to testify to that effect, the business group commented, posted Wednesday in docket USTR-2018-0005. The USTR’s 215-page investigative report released March 22 as justification for the proposal of tariffs (see 1803230016) was flawed, said the chamber. Contrary to finding that Chinese regulations on joint-venture contracts with foreign companies hurt U.S. businesses, “no positive evidence supports the underlying determination that China has implemented laws, policies and practices that are unreasonable and burden the U.S. commerce,” said the chamber. “None of the public comments submitted by interested parties has identified any Chinese laws or regulations that mandatorily requires technology transfer, or present any real and concrete case in which the Chinese government has in practice forced transfer of technologies,” said the chamber. “Anonymous surveys” on which “the USTR’s conclusion relied heavily, are of little, if any, probative value,” it said. Tariffs will hurt both the U.S. and China, it said. "As numerous interested persons have demonstrated, raising tariffs will not only hurt the U.S. importers, retailers and downstream industries, but also result in a higher cost of living for ordinary American people and put at risk millions of American jobs that are tied to trade with China." The chamber thinks "cooperation instead of confrontation is the only right way to resolve differences," it said. "Not only because the China-US economic and trade relationship is highly interdependent, but also because the two sides share a wide range of common interests and goals, which forms a good basis for reaching mutually acceptable solution." USTR didn’t comment.