US Importers Bore Cost of Trump’s China Goods Tariffs, ITC Says

[beijingwalker]

US Importers Bore Cost of Trump’s China Goods Tariffs, ITC Says​

By Eric Martin
Bloomberg
March 16, 2023 at 8:00 PM GMT+8

US importers bore almost the entire burden of tariffs that Donald Trump placed on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, a report by an independent US government agency found.

The US International Trade Commission, a bipartisan entity that analyzes trade issues, found an almost one-to-one increase in the price of US imports following the so-called section 301 tariffs, it said in a report on Wednesday. The study came in response to a directive from Congress as part of a law passed last year.

The conclusions back the longtime assertion of US Chamber of Commerce and independent academic economists that the cost of the tariffs hurt American firms, and contradict Trump’s claim that China paid the ultimate cost of the duties.

The ITC’s commissioners weren’t all on the same page about the report, with Jason E. Kearns saying it painted an incomplete picture, as Bloomberg’s Eric Martin writes here.

President Joe Biden’s administration has kept the tariffs on imports of Chinese goods in place for more than two years and is currently undertaking a review of the duties to evaluate their effectiveness and decide if they should continue.

The tariffs were imposed by the Trump administration under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 starting in 2018 based on China’s alleged intellectual property theft and forced transfer technology.

Some of the findings in the 315-page report include the following:

• Prices for imports from China across some of the most affected industries — including imports of computer equipment, semiconductors, furniture and audio and video equipment — increased as much as 25% in 2021, according to the agency.
• In the same year, prices of US-produced goods in some industries rose 3% to 4%.
• Imports of the affected products from China declined to about $265 billion in 2021 from $311 billion in 2017, the year before the duties were imposed, the ITC said.
• Across all affected sectors, the duties lowered Chinese imports by 13% during 2018 to 2021, raised US output by 0.4% and increased prices of US products by 0.2%.

“It’s hardly news that tariffs are a tax paid by American families and companies, or that tariffs produce some winners and many losers across the US economy,” said John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the US Chamber of Commerce.

“What’s most frustrating is that the administration has provided almost no opening for tariff relief — even in instances where tariffs are clearly forcing US manufacturing offshore. It’s long past time to revisit these policies,” he said.

The US Trade Representative’s last year began a review of the tariffs, which would have started to automatically expire in the middle of last year absent an evaluation of their impact. USTR got hundreds of requests for the tariffs to continue and has kept them in place as it undertakes the review. The administration received thousands of public responses to a request for comment before the window to do so closed in mid-January.

“The administration is determining next steps on the section 301 tariffs and will take these relevant, but incomplete, findings into account,” said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the USTR. “Our ongoing review will examine the effectiveness of the section 301 tariffs in addressing China’s unfair, harmful and anti-competitive acts, policies, and practices, as well as the impact on the US economy, including consumers.”

US Importers Bore Cost of Trump’s China Goods Tariffs, ITC Says

US importers bore almost the entire burden of tariffs that Donald Trump placed on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, a report by an independent US government agency found.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[beijingwalker]

No surprise at all, most products in the world now are only made and produced in China, nowhere else, US has to buy them anyway, if US government likes to rip off US importers and consumers, it's US own domestic problem.

 

[beijingwalker]

How much did Trump-era tariffs on China cost Americans? New US findings confirm ‘self-inflicted harm’​

• Trade tariffs against China may have spurred US firms into diversifying supply chains, but a commission’s findings suggest Washington has failed to achieve its main trade-war goal
• US consumers are paying more for certain goods as a result of the tariffs, according to the US International Trade Commission

Published: 12:00am, 17 Mar, 2023

Import tariffs placed on more than US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods during the Trump administration increased US prices, according to a report from a bipartisan US trade commission, confirming a widely held view among analysts of trade and tariffs that they caused “self-inflicted harm”.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC), an independent government agency that investigated the impact of the US-China trade war on America’s economy, said that prices for imports from China across some of the most affected industries – such as computer equipment, semiconductors, furniture, and audio and video equipment – rose by as much as 25 per cent in 2021.

While president in July 2018, Donald Trump announced a set of tariffs on Chinese goods, including semiconductors and chemicals, as Washington levied allegations of intellectual property theft and Beijing’s implementation of forced transfer technology – requiring foreign firms to share their tech in exchange for market access.

[US tariffs] haven’t pushed China to alter its underlying economic model, nor to address many of the structural impediments to businessNick Marro, The Economist Intelligence Unit​

The tariffs were imposed in 2018 and 2019, adding 7.5 to 25 per cent taxes on Chinese goods, but this led to the prices of US-produced goods in some industries increasing by 3 to 4 per cent, the report said.


“They haven’t pushed China to alter its underlying economic model, nor to address many of the structural impediments to business that foreign firms face in the Chinese market,” said Nick Marro, lead analyst in global trade with The Economist Intelligence Unit. “If anything, we’re seeing China double down on those policies now, given the pressure from things like US export controls.”

The “Economic Impact of Section 232 and 301 Tariffs on US Industries” report came in response to a directive from US Congress as part of a law passed last year.

The tariffs may have helped spur multinational corporations into supply-chain diversification and expand their presence in countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, he added, but Washington has not achieved its core goal from the trade war.

Imports of the affected goods from China decreased from US$311 billion in 2017 to around US$265 billion in 2021, the report added.

“The actual [impact from such tariffs] is not on the importer nor even the foreign exporter,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“This is very clear – from both theory and evidence – that, no doubt, actual incidents of tariffs are eventually bought by the final consumer or the producer that actually buys products.”

Also in 2018, the Trump administration passed section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, imposing duties on steel and aluminium imports, on the grounds of protecting national interests.

The USITC found that, under section 232, imports of steel products were reduced by 24 per cent, raising US prices by 2.4 per cent and increasing domestic output by 1.9 per cent.

Aluminium imports also fell by 31 per cent, while prices in the US rose by 1.6 per cent, and local production grew 3.6 per cent, the report added.

“This is why tariffs are seen as a relatively blunt policy measure, given that they cause self-inflicted harm when they’re imposed,” Marro added.

Furthermore, USITC commissioner Jason Kearns says in the “additional views” section of his group’s report that the findings paint an “incomplete picture” that fails to address the influence of Beijing’s unfair trade practices and Washington’s failure to change or respond to China’s behaviour.

“This report addresses the short-term impact of section 232 and section 301 tariffs on trade, production and prices in some of the most affected industries in the United States,” Kearns wrote.

“It does not describe where we have been or where we are going in our trade relations with China.”

Bryan Mercurio, a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out that the limited scope of the commission’s findings leaves some questions up in the air.

“It is a shame the ITC report intentionally limited the scope and excluded a broader, economy-wide assessment of the tariffs, as it remains questionable whether the tariffs produced a net benefit to the US economy,” he said.

The administration of Joe Biden has maintained Trump’s trade-restriction regime on imports of Chinese goods and is currently reviewing whether the tariffs should continue.

The administration is also looking to partially remove the tariffs in the wake of surging prices of consumer goods. Biden’s top trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, has pointedly called the tariffs “significant leverage” against China and its alleged unfair trade practices that harm US interests.

Menon said that while the results suggest some negative impacts of the tariffs targeting Chinese imported goods, it is unclear when or if the trade war will wind down entirely.

This is about the rise of China, more than anything elseJayant Menon, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute​

“I think this is a continuation – and in some ways, an escalation – of the trade war. It’s not going away any time soon, because the trade war is actually a proxy war that reflects great power competition,” Menon said.

“So, this is about the rise of China, more than anything else,” he added. “It is unlikely to be resolved through trade negotiations or such policy measures.”

In April, the US court granted a partial victory to HMTX Industries, a Connecticut-based global manufacturer of vinyl tiles that filed a lawsuit in September 2020, challenging the legality of the USTR’s authority to extend the tariffs on Chinese goods.

In December, the World Trade Organization said the US tariffs on steel and aluminium violated international trade rules. Washington rejected the decision, and the trade duties remained unchanged.

The US and European Union are also reportedly considering whether to impose new tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium as part of a bid to reduce carbon emissions

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3213787/how-much-did-trump-era-tariffs-china-cost-americans-new-us-findings-confirm-self-inflicted-harm​

 

[beijingwalker]

US Importers Carried the Burden of Chinese Tariffs Placed by President Trump​

Former President Donald Trump placed tariffs on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, according to the ITC.(Farm Journal)

By JIM WIESEMEYER March 17, 2023

U.S. importers bore almost the entire burden of tariffs that former President Donald Trump placed on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, said a report by the independent U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), a bipartisan entity that analyzes trade issues.

ITC found an almost one-to-one increase in the price of U.S. imports following the Section 301 tariffs, it said in a report on Wednesday. The study came in response to a directive from Congress as part of a law passed last year.

Some of the report’s findings:

• Prices for imports from China across some of the most affected industries — including imports of computer equipment, semiconductors, furniture and audio and video equipment — increased as much as 25% in 2021.
• In the same year, prices of U.S.-produced goods in some industries rose 3% to 4%.
• Imports of the affected products from China declined to about $265 billion in 2021 from $311 billion in 2017, the year before the duties were imposed.
• Across all affected sectors, the duties lowered Chinese imports by 13% during 2018 to 2021, raised U.S. output by 0.4% and increased prices of U.S. products by 0.2%.

Tariff Bottom Line​

The conclusions back assertions from many that the cost of the tariffs hurt American firms, and contradict Trump’s claim that China paid the ultimate cost of the duties.
The ITC’s commissioners weren’t all on the same page about the report, with Jason E. Kearns saying it painted an incomplete picture.

So, why are the tariffs still on? ​

President Joe Biden’s administration has kept the tariffs on imports of Chinese goods in place for more than two years and is currently undertaking a review of the duties to evaluate their effectiveness and decide if they should continue.

“It’s hardly news that tariffs are a tax paid by American families and companies, or that tariffs produce some winners and many losers across the US economy,” said John Murphy, senior vice president for international policy at the US Chamber of Commerce. “What’s most frustrating is that the administration has provided almost no opening for tariff relief — even in instances where tariffs are clearly forcing U.S. manufacturing offshore. It’s long past time to revisit these policies,” he said.

USTR Counters​

“The administration is determining next steps on the section 301 tariffs and will take these relevant, but incomplete, findings into account,” said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the USTR. “Our ongoing review will examine the effectiveness of the section 301 tariffs in addressing China’s unfair, harmful and anti-competitive acts, policies, and practices, as well as the impact on the US economy, including consumers.”

US Importers Carried the Burden of Chinese Tariffs Placed by President Trump

Former President Donald Trump placed tariffs on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, according to the ITC.

www.dairyherd.com