Trump's tariffs on European wine have American businesses begging for relief
American wine shop owners and importers already dealing with tariffs on European imports pleaded with US trade officials for relief Tuesday, arguing that adding a 100% tariff on French wine and Champagne threatened by President Donald Trump would devastate their industry.
"My company will surely disappear if 100% tariffs are imposed on European wines," said Jenny Lefcourt, who started her New York City-based import business called Jenny and Francois Selections about 20 years ago
The wine industry is caught up in two separate trade spats.
The Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on most European wine in October, in retaliation for the subsidies Europe provided to aircraft maker Airbus. Since then, the administration has threatened to raise the rate because of a lack of progress in resolving the issue.
Trump has also threatened a new tariff on sparkling French wine, including Champagne, to punish France for imposing a tax on digital services. A report released by the US Trade Representative's Office last month found that the tax, which affects large American tech companies like Facebook and Google, represents a barrier to trade.
Trump's tariffs cost U.S. companies $46 billion to date, data shows
Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump to restructure the United States’s top trade relationships have cost American companies $46 billion since February 2018, and U.S. exports of goods hit by retaliatory tariffs have fallen sharply, according to an analysis of Commerce Department data.
The lion’s share of the higher tariff costs, some $37.3 billion, stemmed from duties on imports from China, said Washington-based consultancy Trade Partnership Worldwide, which calculated cumulative tariff costs through November 2019, the latest data available.
Exports of U.S. goods hit by retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries fell by 23% in the 12 months ended November, compared with 2017, before the tariffs began, the analysis showed. Even when retaliatory tariffs have ended, those exports haven't bounced back, said Trade Partnership Vice President Dan Anthony. tmsnrt.rs/2Tg8IO7
Seasonally adjusted U.S. Commerce data released on Tuesday showed the overall U.S. trade deficit narrowed to a more than three-year low in November.
The Trade Partnership uses raw, not seasonally adjusted, data, which is specific enough to match tariff codes to categories of goods, and then break it down by state. It conducted the analysis for Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, which includes a coalition of more than 150 business associations and the Farmers for Free Trade coalition.
Two states that hold early primaries in the 2020 presidential election, Nevada and New Hampshire, saw their exports of goods facing retaliatory tariffs drop by nearly twice the national average, Anthony said. Nevada exports integrated circuits and New Hampshire produces computer and electronics products.
Another Trump FAILURE
Trump Dims Hopes for New China Trade Deal
‘I don’t think about it now,’ the president says about additional trade talks with China
Trump says U.S.-China relationship is ‘severely damaged,’ phase 2 trade deal not a priority
Trump says U.S.-China relationship damaged, phase 2 trade deal not a priority
... that means that 100s of millions of extra $ are still being taxed on Chinese goods entering the USA from China including copiers and printers. China will wait for the results of the Nov 2020 election.
With the USA economy now running huge deficits all of the extra money the tariffs bring in goes straight to general gov't revenues. In the likely event that Joe Biden becomes President, I would not expect him to make many changes to the tariffs for quite awhile.
Certainly the Chinese are guilty of many abuses of the trade relationship with the USA plus the Chinese economy is running huge deficits. I do not know if they can take at least four more years of a tariff war.
Trump pulls tariff exemption for bifacial panels – again
The U.S. president issued a proclamation on Oct. 10 that cites the impact of imported bifacial panels on U.S. solar manufacturing, while also raising the scheduled fourth-year tariff rate from 15% to 18%.
Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), told Bloomberg that Trump’s proclamation “counters critical needs of our country right now, jeopardizing jobs, economic recovery in the face of a pandemic and a clean environment.” SEIA would, she said, “evaluate every option to reverse this harmful approach.”
Nextracker CEO Dan Shugar called the tariffs “an outright tax on consumers of solar energy in the U.S,” in recent testimony to Congress.
Manufacturing group asks Biden to end steel, aluminum tariffs
A U.S. manufacturing group asked President Joe Biden to end tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, setting the stage for a debate on protective trade measures.
The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users said the tariffs hurt family-owned businesses and fractured relationships with trading partners. A letter from the group asked Biden to end former President Donald Trump’s tariffs and to ask countries to address the issue of excess steel and aluminum capacity in China.
“By taking action to terminate the Trump tariffs, your administration can prevent U.S. manufacturers from shutting down production lines, laying off workers, and potentially even closing their doors,” Paul Nathanson, the executive director of the group, said in the letter dated Wednesday.
“Thousands of manufacturers cannot procure the necessary raw materials in the U.S. in sufficient and reasonably available commercial quantities ––and of a satisfactory quality –– leading American companies to rely on imports,” he said.
Biden said last week he would keep U.S. tariffs on aluminum imports from the United Arab Emirates, a major supplier, reversing a last-minute directive by Trump.
The United Steelworkers, most U.S. steel producers and Century Aluminum Co. have asked Biden to maintain tariffs.
The coalition said it represents more than 30,000 companies and more than 1 million workers.
Bookmarks