Tariffs Would Hit US Smart Thermostat Innovators Hardest, Says Energy Alliance 

U.S. companies are “market leaders” in development and sale of smart thermostats, and would be the hardest hit if the Trump administration imposes 25 percent tariffs on Chinese imports of component parts (see 1804050005), said the Advanced Energy Management Alliance in comments posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0005. The alliance, whose members include green energy services providers, but also Nest, Tesla and Walmart, wants the U.S. Trade Representative’s office to remove automatic thermostats (Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9032.10.00) from its list of products targeted for the tariffs, it said. Chinese companies “do not have a meaningful presence in the U.S. market” for smart thermostats, it said. “Therefore, if USTR were to impose duties on smart thermostats, the impact of the duties would fall primarily on U.S. companies. In addition to the harm this would cause to the U.S. companies and their American workers, the additional duties would increase prices for the millions of U.S. families who rely on smart thermostats to control their energy costs and [would] discourage their use.” The tariffs also would harm the “small and medium-sized U.S. businesses that sell and install thermostats,” and would “disrupt the efforts that utility companies and others have undertaken to use technologically advanced smart thermostats to meet energy efficiency targets,” said the alliance. The tariffs also would “undermine U.S. innovation in this space,” it said. The alliance thinks it’s “unlikely” tariffs would be “practicable or effective” in eliminating unfair Chinese acts, policies and trade practices the USTR’s office is targeting, “because the market leaders in this product category are U.S. and other non-Chinese companies,” it said. Comments are due Friday, and a hearing on the proposed tariffs is scheduled for Tuesday. The deadline for comments to rebut statements made at the hearing is May 22.