Washington D.C. – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Rufus Yerxa today issued the following statement regarding the President’s decision to implement tariffs on imports from China resulting from a section 301 investigation initiated in August 2017:
“While we share many of USTR’s conclusions about the multitude of Chinese practices that are discriminatory and highly damaging to U.S. companies and technologies, we want USTR to focus on actions that will force China to address our concerns rather than to engage in an escalating conflict. The most important step right now is to get buy-in from key trading partners—Europe, Japan and others—to our indictment of China’s behavior. We should then coordinate with them in ramping up pressure on China.
“In implementing a joint strategy with our trading partners, selective use of trade and investment tools may end up in the mix. But premature, unilateral resort to high tariffs on a wide range of consumer products at the outset will do more harm than good. It will lessen support from our allies, encourage retaliation against sectors like agriculture and actually make it harder for U.S. businesses to compete in China.
“We urge the Administration to build international support for a real effort to confront China’s policies.”
To read NFTC’s letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committee, click
here.
About the NFTC
Serving America’s Global Businesses Since 1914– The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules- based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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