Congress must not weaken China tariffs

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine signals the emergence of a potentially troubling new world order. In part, that’s because China is actively aiding and encouraging Russia’s invasion. That should sound alarm bells in Washington, since Beijing has made clear its utter disregard for democratic norms. In response, Congress must ramp up its pending China legislation — and ensure that tariffs on Chinese imports aren’t weakened.

For decades, the United States has maintained the most open consumer market in the world. Not only does the United States import literally trillions of dollars worth of goods each year, but it also imposes some of the lowest tariffs of any industrialized nation.

Unfortunately, China has spent the past 20 years taking advantage of this generosity. It’s a situation that finally came to a head in 2018, when the Trump administration imposed “Section 301” tariffs to punish China for its longstanding intellectual property theft and other aggressive practices.

As polls demonstrate, U.S. consumers agree with the tariffs — and don’t want to buy Chinese goods. But unscrupulous importers have gone the other way, and keep trying to evade the China tariffs.

Included in Section 301 was an “exclusion process” allowing importers to seek relief from tariffs on products they claim are unavailable in the United States. After the tariffs were initiated in 2018, importers sought plenty of exclusions.

In the four years since then, importers have had ample time to shift supply chains from China. Instead, they’re now pressing Congress to actually weaken the current China tariffs.

This shouldn’t be a total surprise, however, since the tariff exclusion process is rife with abuse. The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) recently studied the claims of numerous importers seeking tariff relief. CPA found that, for many of the products in question, American-made options do exist. However, importers don’t mention this in their petitions. Instead, they argue in favor of more imports. Some even say they’re seeking tariff relief because of “previous investments in developing (their) manufacturing base in China.”

Recently, the House passed the America Competes Act of 2022 — legislation intended to boost U.S. competitiveness against China. This follows a similar China bill that passed the Senate last year. Unfortunately, the Senate bill would weaken the 301 tariffs by reinstating exclusions and allowing tariff relief for Chinese exports that face “lost profitability.”

China’s aggressive trade practices, and its support for Russia, make clear that it’s not a friendly trade partner. It makes little sense, then, for Congress to consider legislation that could actually weaken U.S. trade laws — and allow China to expand its predatory trade.

Tariff exclusions should be curtailed, not expanded, since importers can readily find alternative producers outside of China. If anything, the tariffs should be expanded, since they’re intended to make America’s supply chains less reliant on China.

Congress should reject efforts to weaken the 301 tariffs or allow for bogus tariff exclusions. It’s time to bring back American manufacturing through robust legislation.