Bipartisan Group of Senators Says to Keep Section 301 Tariffs on All Lists
Six Republican and three Democratic senators are urging President Joe Biden "to substantially maintain the tariffs in their current form," though they also said in a letter that exclusions are necessary for importers who cannot buy from elsewhere, but said Biden shouldn't lift or reduce tariff rates, because that would reduce U.S. leverage to address Chinese economic abuses.
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The May 25 letter comes as the treasury secretary and other members of the administration have said that consumer goods aren't strategic and don't belong on the tariff lists and that the tariffs are contributing to inflation.
"We note that the tariffs are not a driver of today’s inflation. Not only do the tariffs predate the current inflation by over three years, but Chinese imports make up only 2 percent of goods included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and would not materially reduce inflation. Indeed, much of the inflation we are seeing relates to fuel and food -- sectors that are unrelated to imports from China," the senators, including lead author Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said. Also signing were Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla.
Scott has hammered on inflation at every chance in the Senate, and has tried to lay it at Biden's feet, calling it Bidenflation.
"Rolling back the tariffs on China would undermine the U.S. position in negotiations, expose many U.S. companies and workers to a sudden flood of imports, and signal to China that waiting out the United States is preferable to changing their non-market behavior or complying with the Phase One Agreement," the senators wrote. They said that removing tariffs on any of the $370 billion worth of goods where they apply "would signal to Beijing that, for all its rhetoric, the United States is not serious about addressing the inequities and imbalances in the bilateral relationship," and would reward its noncompliance with "provisions of the Phase One Agreement."