Permanent Duty Suspensions on LCD Panels ‘Vital’ to SC Workers, Says Element

Keeping in place permanently the temporary “tariff suspensions” on flat panels and assemblies that Element Electronics imports from China is “vital” to the workers who assemble finished LCD TVs in South Carolina, Element commented (login required) Tuesday in International Trade Commission docket 332-565. The 4.5 percent duties on LCD TV components Element sources under the 9013.80.90 and 8529.90.13 tariff lines were temporarily suspended in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) Act that President Donald Trump signed into law Sept. 13 to promote U.S. production at companies that rely on small-volume imports. Element's comments were part of the review process for an ITC report to Congress due within year after the MTB's enactment summarizing the legislation’s impact to the U.S. economy. “Tariff inversion” in the U.S. TV sector “incentivizes production abroad,” said Element. The 4.5 percent duties put Element at a significant cost disadvantage to finished TVs from China assessed a 3.9 percent rate, it said. “To make matters worse,” importers of finished TVs from Mexico paid zero duty under the North American Free Trade Agreement, it said. “Since 2013, the US has imported on average over 17 million finished LCD TVs from Mexico per year (or about 46% of total US LCD TV imports). These duty free imports are a major source of competition for Element's US production facility.” The MTB duty suspension “has been a job-saving development that has gone a long way to level the playing field for Element's workers” in South Carolina, said Element. “lt is vital that the existing MTBs are made permanent to provide a permanent solution to the tariff inversion.” The company made many of the same arguments when it testified successfully last summer for the removal of Section 301 tariffs on 9013.80.90 and 8529.90.13 goods from China.