The trade war between the US and China appears to be ready to escalate. According to USA Today, the President’s chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow is suggesting the administration is soon going to be ready to install new tariffs on Chinese goods.
The paper says, “President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser suggested Monday that the administration is ready to slap new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports. Larry Kudlow, in an interview on CNBC, said he didn’t want to get ahead of Trump in announcing the tariffs but said, ‘My guess is his announcements will be coming soon.’ Asked about news reports that said a 10 percent tariff would be levied as early as this week, Kudlow said ‘the basic stories are probably more or less correct.’”
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has responded consistently in trying to exert its influence. AEM President Dennis Slater says in a recent press release, “This extreme use of tariffs hurts our nation’s access to global markets and threatens many of the 1.3 million good-paying equipment manufacturing jobs our industry supports. To make matters worse, US farmers are losing out at a time when their incomes are on the decline. It’s clear everyone loses in a trade war. This administration should be looking for ways to improve our trade relationship with China, not doubling down on tactics that only lead to continued retaliatory actions.”
The AEM has also joined forces with dozens of other manufacturing groups and associations by co-signing a letter urging the Trump Administration to not go through with this latest round of tariffs. The letter was sent to US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer.
If the additional $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods goes into effect, it would add to the $50 billion tariffs that are already in place. US Customs and Border Protection already started collecting duties on $34 billion worth of goods in July. $16 billion of tariffs went into effect in August. All year long, the AEM has been speaking out against the President’s trade policies.
$250 million is close to half of the dollar amount of products and goods that are imported to the US from China last year. Manufacturers have been speaking out against these trade policies throughout the year.
The AEM is actually going to be livestreaming its third “I Make America” town hall tour stop from Redmond, WA, tomorrow, September 20, 2018. The discussion will be held from 11 a.m. to noon in Terex APW’s Genie Showroom. The town hall will feature an expert panel that will talk about how the tariffs, and trade policies like them, are having an impact on the equipment manufacturing industry.
