Trump-Allied Group Urges USTR to End Section 301 Exclusions

The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nonprofit allied with President Donald Trump's views on trade, is arguing not to extend exclusions for Section 301 tariffs because companies have had “ample time” to move their supply chains out of China. “Any bemoaning from the import lobby that relies on China should have looked to home first. There are plenty of Americans and American businesses that can fulfill their supply chain needs,” CPA Chairman Dan DiMicco and CEO Michael Stumo wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The tariffs “have proven a vital and useful tool in addressing the Chinese Communist Party and its countless illegal acts relating to stealing and acquiring US intellectual property,” they said. USTR granted the exclusions in response to interest groups and businesses that said the exemptions were necessary “to avoid widespread economic harm,” they said. “We know now that this alarm was unfounded.” They argue that virtually all the $70 billion collected from Section 301 tariffs came from importers' margins, not the American consumer, and said that amount equaled almost a third of annual corporate tax receipts. “These exclusions were nothing more than a payday for Chinese manufacturing and those groups who rely on subsidized-and sometimes even made-by-slave-labor products,” they wrote.