Firms fear effects of tariffs on more Chinese goods

WASHINGTON — Fishermen off the Alaskan coast. A Florida maker of boat trailers. A building materials distributor in Tennessee.

Those and hundreds of other American businesses are delivering the same plea to President Donald Trump as he considers imposing tariffs on nearly 40 percent of imported Chinese goods: Don’t do it. The Trump administration began six days of hearings starting Monday on the next barrage in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies: Trump’s proposed tariffs of 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion in Chinese goods that could kick in as early as next month.

Once in effect, the tariffs would immediately inflate the prices that American companies pay for Chinese components they need to build their products. Those companies would have to decide whether to pass those costs on to their customers or absorb the higher prices themselves.

The first shots have already been fired: In July, Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports. Taxes on an additional $16 billion are set to kick in this week. China is counterpunching with tariffs of its own.

But the $200 billion in additional Chinese goods that the Trump administration is considering taxing would mark a significant escalation in its trade fight with Beijing.

So far, the U.S. tariffs have targeted imported Chinese industrial products — not the electronics, toys and food that ordinary Americans might buy at a mall or order online. But adding $200 billion to the target list would expose to hefty taxes many more of the $506 billion in goods that China shipped to the United States last year, including many consumer products. The list includes 6,031 Chinese imports.

In their filings to the Trump administration, companies that import from China complain that the tariffs will force them to raise prices, pay higher costs, try to find alternative suppliers or lose business to foreign rivals that don’t have to pay a penalty on components and machinery they import from China. Consider: • Seattle’s Groundfish Forum, a trade group for the operators of 19 fishing trawlers off Alaska. It warns that the tariffs will hit flatfish caught off the U.S. coast that are sent to China for processing before being shipped back to the United States. Trump’s proposed 10 percent tariff on those fish would leave the “sustainably harvested fish caught by U.S. fishermen at a competitive disadvantage,” the group says in a filing with the administration’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

• Magic Tilt Trailers, a company in Clearwater, Florida, that makes boat trailers. It says it has to buy Chinese tires and parts on Trump’s target list; there are few alternatives.

• Building Plastics Inc., a Memphis-based building materials distributor. It buys 400- to 800-pound slabs of Chinese quartz and sells them to fabricators that turn them into countertops and other items for homes and offices.