‘Not Resolved’ Whether CTA Will Sue to Block Tariffs Hike to 25%, CTA President Says
It’s “not resolved” whether the Consumer Technology Association will file a lawsuit blocking the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports before they rise to 25 percent, as scheduled for Jan. 1, CTA President Gary Shapiro said at a CTA event Nov. 8. CTA hired Akin Gump to draft a court complaint to block the tariffs and is shopping the draft around to other trade groups seeking their legal and financial support (see 1810290020).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
“We haven’t made a decision yet” whether to sue or to pursue litigation alone if other trade groups don’t come on board, Shapiro said. Asked to confirm if it would require an affirmative vote of CTA’s executive board to authorize the litigation as part of the decision-making process, Shapiro said: “I’m not going to go there.”
The tariffs on Chinese goods are “at the top of our minds,” because the 10 percent duties that took effect Sept. 24 on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports will jump automatically to 25 percent on Jan. 1, “unless something is done,” Shapiro said. Asked what he meant, Shapiro said CTA members were hoping for a breakthrough if President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G-20 summit later this month in Argentina.
“At this point, it will take an action” from the Trump administration to stop the hike to 25 percent, Shapiro told us. Trump and Xi agreed to meet, he said, and “one report said they’re even going to have dinner” together, he said. “So if it’s a very successful dinner, we can avoid a depression. We’re hoping there’s some sort of deal cut or delay, or something like that. So that’s one of the options.”
If the tariffs rise to 25 percent, “it will have serious ramifications for companies in our industry and many other industries, and frankly to the U.S. economy and the U.S. stock market,” Shapiro said. “Tariffs are taxes,” and the Constitution gives Congress “the right to raise taxes, not the president,” he said.