Businesses make case at USTR tariff hearing

The holiday season could be a little less bright this year if more tariffs are imposed on imports from China, according to a retail industry representative.

Businesses and industry associations expressed concern about tariffs imposed on imports from China and requested exemptions from US tariffs at a public hearing in Washington on Tuesday.

"If America's retailers face any increase in the cost of products in the form of a tariff, it will mean higher prices at the checkout for American families in the coming holiday season," said Hun Quach, Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) vice-president of international trade, who brought ribbons, tapes and Christmas lights to the first day of a two-day hearing held by the Office of the US Trade Representative.

On July 6, the US imposed 25 percent tariffs on products worth $34 billion from China. This week's hearings are for another $16 billion on Chinese exports. China has responded in kind for the first $34 billion of goods. 

Products such as Christmas lights, cling wrap, soap dispensers, fog machines, and showerheads are on the tariff list.

The proposed tariffs will impact "the budget of American families, especially lower and middle-income families who can ill afford to pay more for every day consumer goods", said Quach.

"The impact of these tariffs would reverberate throughout the US global value chain, targeting consumers, retailers and our US-based suppliers who design these products," she said.

"Our supply chains are dependent upon predictability and prices. Tariffs are one way to disrupt that whole project," she told China Daily. "We're taking every step in this process very seriously. … Once you get to $505 billion, it covers every single consumer product coming into the US."

Impak Films US LLC, an Atlanta-based business servicing the flexible-packaging industry, is supplied by only two manufacturers that can meet its requirements, and both of them are in China.

"The Chinese suppliers now know how to serve our customers," said Ed Jenkins, Impak sales and marketing manager.

The tariffs will make the products "extremely expensive", and the company will be forced to find other sources, which Jenkins said was unlikely.

"Neither we nor our customers have been forced by the Chinese manufacturers or the Chinese government to share any IP (intellectual property)," Jenkins said.

Robert Hinsch, vice-president of Top Value Fabrics, an international textile supplier based in Carmel, Indiana, said the 25 percent tariff would significantly increase the cost of finished products.

Only one Chinese company attended the first day of the hearing.

ZTT International, a manufacturer of cable systems, was represented by sales manager Shichao Quan. He testified on the disadvantage faced by ZTT's American clients as a result of aluminum tariffs.

Quan said that his company isn't responsible for the installation and maintenance of the cable it produces, so there is no threat to US electric power transmission, as he said ZTT's competitors have claimed.

Ying Wang in Washington contributed to this story.

Contact the write at leshuodong@chinadailyusa.com