Tariff-Induced ‘Scramble’ for Alternative Supply Causing Retail Price Hikes, Says NRF

That Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods “have been growing in scope and now size” is causing “a scramble among importers to find alternative sources of supply,” commented the National Retail Federation in docket USTR-2019-0015. The Trump administration “might think this is a good way to exert pressure on China, [but] it comes at a very high cost to American manufacturers that use imported inputs for U.S. production, as well as retailers and consumers,” it said. The scramble “is bidding up prices for these goods from all possible alternative manufacturers,” it said. Higher prices are “already on the horizon,” and the problem's “particularly acute for products sold by small retailers across the country that have little control over their supply chains,” it said. NRF urged the administration to “refrain” from hiking the first three rounds of tariffs to 30 percent as planned for Oct. 15 and to “reconsider altogether the tariff approach to incentivizing China to modify its acts." The strategy “has not worked,” and is causing significant “collateral damage to wide swaths of the U.S.” and is “costing American jobs,” it said. “Reevaluate a strategy based solely on tariffs and focus on building an international coalition of our allies who share our concerns.”