Chamber Opposes AD/CVD Changes, Says MTB Renewal, Broad Section 301 Exclusion, Section 232 Relief Needed

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to argue against including rewrites to antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws, and calls for tariff relief, John Murphy, the lead advocate on trade for the group, blogged about their trade priorities.

He said the AD/CVD proposal "would make sweeping changes to U.S. trade remedy law that have not received the scrutiny required for such a complex, far-reaching proposal. If enacted, the proposal would fast-track AD/CVD investigations in ways that could prejudice the deliberative process of these quasi-judicial proceedings and produce higher tariffs on a wider universe of products.

"This measure would favor a handful of businesses at the expense of a much wider swath of manufacturing industries employing many more American workers," he said in an April 6 post.

Murphy said that about half of imports are parts, components and raw materials used by manufacturers. Sections 301 and 232 tariffs "have raised prices for a host of industrial inputs while contributing to the recent surge in inflation. ... In short, these tariffs tend to favor a handful of businesses at the expense of a much wider swath of manufacturers employing many more American workers."

Murphy said that if the compromise China package requires a broader product exclusion process, and specifies the criteria to consider, it would "help ensure American workers and businesses do not suffer disproportionate harm because of the tariffs." However, that measure's language allows the administration to ignore the directive if it says it would undermine the trade action against China.

Murphy also wrote that the steel and aluminum tariff-rate quota agreements with the EU, Japan and the United Kingdom only represent "modest progress."

"When these tariffs were imposed in 2018, the Chamber warned they 'would directly harm American manufacturers, provoke widespread retaliation from our trading partners, and leave virtually untouched the true problem of Chinese steel and aluminum overcapacity.' All of that came to pass," he wrote.

"Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has roiled metals markets. Russia is a major producer of nickel, used in steel production, and also a significant steel and aluminum producer. Global prices of these metals have soared." He said analysts are predicting widespread steel shortages.

"The case for action is clear: The administration can mitigate these nosebleed prices and looming shortages by providing relief from the Section 232 tariffs and quotas, including those still in place on major producers such as Korea and Brazil," he wrote.