Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) vice president Kip Eideberg issued the following statement today on news that President Trump and China President Xi Jinping are moving closer to a trade deal:
Washington, D.C. – Progress towards a U.S.-China trade deal during the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, raised hopes by equipment manufacturers for a prospective deal to end the ongoing trade war between the two economic superpowers.
“We’re encouraged by the return to a more constructive dialogue between the United States and China. Pumping the brakes on any further tariffs is good news for U.S. consumers, American farmers, and our industry’s 1.3 million men and women,” said Kip Eideberg, AEM’s vice president of government and industry relations. “While we support the administration’s efforts to encourage long-term structural reforms to China’s trade and industrial policies, the protracted trade war fueled by dueling rounds of tariffs has so far not accomplished anything other than making it more expensive to manufacture in the United States. The best way to ensure that equipment manufacturers are successful and continue to create jobs in America is to immediately put an end to all tariffs."
The U.S. has already placed tariffs on $250 billion in goods from China, including many different types of construction and agricultural equipment and parts. In response, China continues to put in place reciprocal tariffs targeting a variety of U.S. products including manufactured goods and agricultural products.
Before the G-20 meeting in Japan, President Trump had threatened to expand those tariffs to additional $300 billion of imports from China or about all Chinese imports to the U.S. AEM continues to highlight the economic damages caused by these ongoing tariffs and is pressing the administration to find alternative ways to pressure our trading partners for unfair trading practices.
