Pa. Republicans question Trump trade representative on logic of tariffs
WASHINGTON — U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer defended the Trump administration’s use of import tariffs as a way to put pressure on China and grow American manufacturing during his annual report to Congress on Wednesday, even as two Pennsylvania Republicans questioned the results.
Mr. Lighthizer also painted a rosy picture of the U.S.China trade agreement signed in January, saying he believed China could still meet its commitments to purchase $200 billion more in U.S. farming, energy, manufactured goods and services. He called a recent analysis that showed China far behind on purchases “totally unfair.”
“China is, for the most part, doing what they said they were going to do,” Mr. Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee.
Broadly, Mr. Lighthizer’s testimony before the Senate panel and the House Ways and Means Committee was spent mostly defending the use of tariffs and assuring lawmakers China would not escape scrutiny.
In the House, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, passed along a complaint from a global flatware producer that has paid millions in tariffs to import products from China into its U.S. headquarters in New Castle. The company, Steelite International America, has put off an expansion because it is paying tariffs, Mr. Kelly said.
“It’s very hard to find people to make forks and knives and spoons now in the United States,” Mr. Kelly said. “If there’s no American producer, what can I tell them because they have no other option, and yet they’re getting burdened with these tariffs?”
Mr. Lighthizer responded that the tariffs were a necessary policy to tackle bigger issues with China. The U.S.
Department of Commerce, he pointed out, has offered oneyear tariff exemptions to companies that could prove they could not find any U.S. source of goods they were importing.
“If you have a year or two years to make a change, then you should have made a change,” Mr. Lighthizer said. “People have had a substantial period of time to find another source.”
In the Senate, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., reiterated his long-standing criticism of U.S. tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel. Mr. Trump imposed those tariffs in March 2018 at the behest of producers like Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, but Mr. Toomey argued the broader economy had been damaged.
“It was the steel and aluminum tariffs and trade war with China that began the deceleration of what had been extremely strong growth,” Mr. Toomey said, noting Pennsylvania had lost manufacturing jobs during Mr. Trump’s time in office, even before the pandemic struck.
“Far more people in the business of using steel and aluminum to produce things than [there are] people who actually make steel and aluminum,” Mr. Toomey said.
Mr. Lighthizer responded that he agreed to disagree.
The hearings came weeks before the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact is set to take effect. Sen. Chuck Grassley, RIowa, expressed concern over reports the Trump administration is considering another round of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Mr. Lighthizer said U.S. officials are concerned about surges in imports from the two countries, and tariffs are “something we are looking at.”