CTA Says Trump Administration Should End ‘Failing’ Policy on Chinese Tariffs

As 25 percent tariffs took effect Thursday on a second tranche of Chinese imports worth about $16 billion, CTA, in its toughest words yet, urged the Trump administration to end its “failing” strategy of trying to use the higher duties to punish China. It's “not working” but instead is “damaging” American businesses and consumers, said CTA President Gary Shapiro. It's “failing to change China's behavior” on intellectual property theft, “putting extreme pressure on American innovation and businesses that invent, design and engineer their IP in the United States,” said Shapiro. Of the nearly five dozen line items that CTA asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month to remove from the second tranche, the final version deleted one: alginic acid and derivatives used for many commercial applications (see 1808080028). CTA and other tech interests are fighting administration efforts to impose a third tranche of 25 percent duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, including on IoT-critical connected devices (see 1808220056 or 1808170014). The administration by now "should know something it questioned several months ago: tariffs will not get China to change its unfair trade practices," testified Jonathan Gold, National Retail Federation vice president-supply chain and customer policy, at public hearings Thursday. "Instead, these tariffs threaten to increase costs for American families and destroy the livelihoods of U.S. workers, farmers, manufacturers and small-business owners. There is still time to prevent these harmful consequences. We hope this week’s discussions between the U.S. and China will pave the way for real action that will resolve these ongoing problems and end the trade war before it further escalates."