CTA Warns Coming Tariffs Would Be ‘Detrimental,’ and at 25%, ‘Could Be Catastrophic’
CTA members identified 139 “line items for technology sector products” they want removed from the coming fourth tranche of tariffs on Chinese imports, commented the association, posted Tuesday in docket USTR-2019-0004. “The annual import value from China of those items…
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alone totals over $167 billion, over half of the entire value of the products on List 4.” Any additional such tariffs would be “detrimental” to CTA members, but a 25 percent duty “could be catastrophic,” said the association. About 400 companies, associations or individuals filed requests by Monday's deadline to speak at hearings that begin June 17 on the proposed tariffs. It took six days of hearings last summer to accommodate the roughly 350 witnesses who testified on List 3. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is expected to release a List 4 hearing schedule Friday. “Increasing integration” of information and communication technologies in other sectors means “punitive tariffs” on technology products “will cause a ripple effect” of harm, the group said. Best Buy Chief Merchandising Officer Jason Bonfig will testify at the hearings “on the inefficacy of the proposed tariffs in achieving the objectives outlined by USTR,” said the retailer's lawyers. Best Buy urges USTR to remove laptops, smartwatches, PC monitors, TVs and videogame consoles from List 4. A second filing also cited smartphones.