‘More Effective Mechanisms’ Exist Than Tariffs, Says Best Buy in Redacted Comments

There are “more effective mechanisms” than 25 percent tariffs on finished TVs sourced from China that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office “should consider” to curb allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices, said Best Buy in May 11 comments posted Thursday in docket USTR-2018-0005. What those suggested mechanisms are were heavily redacted. There are “few and insufficient alternatives” to the finished flat-panel TVs imported from China “to serve existing U.S. market demand,” and so the tariffs would hurt U.S. consumers the most, said Best Buy. There's no display panel production in the U.S. so there's no American market to protect with tariffs, it said. Construction of Foxconn’s LCD fab in Wisconsin (see 1711130014) “has not yet begun and the start-up of this plant is some years away,” it said. “Even when it is fully operational in a few years, the plant will be unable to supply even a small fraction of the total U.S. market for flat panel TVs.” The retailer also testified at the USTR office’s hearing Tuesday that tariffs would have “no effect” on changing allegedly bad Chinese trade policy (see 1805170067).