ITI: Section 301 Tariffs on China Continue to Threaten U.S. Global Competitiveness by Harming Consumers and Businesses
WASHINGTON – Today, global tech trade association ITI underscored the economic harms on the United States caused by the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. In comments (opens in a new tab) to the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Request for Comments in Four-Year Review of Section 301 tariffs (opens in a new tab), ITI highlights that the tariffs have failed to counteract the Chinese government’s unfair trade policies and practices. Instead, the tariffs have caused significant harm to U.S. businesses and consumers, exacerbated the effects of global inflation by raising the price of goods, and harmed U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.
“ITI continues to support the U.S. government’s efforts to address the market access barriers and technology transfer pressures that our member companies face in China,” ITI wrote in the comments. “However, while the Section 301 tariffs were originally intended to level the playing field for American businesses and counteract the Chinese government’s unfair policies and practices, there is no evidence that the tariffs have met the stated objectives to address these concerns; the tariffs have instead caused significant harm to our industry and contributed toward rising costs. Our primary recommendation for USTR continues to be the complete rollback of Section 301 tariffs currently in place, which have negatively impacted the costs of inputs and finished goods from vital medical equipment to essential ICT tools for education.”
In its submission (opens in a new tab), ITI also expresses support for USTR’s decision to extend the 301 tariff exclusions for 352 products that were set to expire at the end of 2022 and urges USTR to take further steps to grant permanent exclusions for ICT products and production inputs until the 301 tariffs are fully lifted.
In July 2022 (opens in a new tab), ITI’s Vice President for Policy, Asia Naomi Wilson testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission about economic harms caused by the policy and urged the Biden Administration to remove the costly tariffs. Earlier this week, ITI released its 2023 Policy Priorities: A Tech Policy Roadmap for U.S. Competitiveness and Growth (opens in a new tab), which focuses on policies that can advance U.S. competitiveness, including trade and supply chain.
###