Supply Chains ‘Flexible,’ Says GE Trade Policy Chief of Those Unable to Source Outside China

General Electric’s trade policy director doesn’t buy the conventional wisdom that it’s too hard for U.S. companies to source goods from countries other than China to escape the Trump administration’s Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, he said Tuesday. “Supply chains are actually kind of flexible," Drew Quinn told an International Trade Association workshop on Asia. He conceded he agrees with those who argue not many countries of origin can match the skills or scale found in China. Legislation introduced last week in the House (HR-1452) and Senate (S-577) to mandate an exclusion process for the List 3 tariffs that took effect Sept. 24 would grant exemptions to goods “not commercially available” outside China, or not produced outside China ”at a cost-competitive price at commercial scale,” as International Trade Commission data would define that (see 1903010031). GE hasn’t heard back from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative about any of the 25 exclusion requests it made to exempt power, aviation and healthcare goods from the List 1 tariffs, said Quinn, a former deputy USTR. He worries that only List 3 tariffs would be lifted in a U.S.-China trade deal, he said: "We hope that List 1's 25 percent tariffs does not become the new normal."