House Dems Introduce Bill to Investigate Tariff-Related Price Hikes at Big Companies
Three House members introduced a bill called the No Gratuitous Overcharging Ubiquitous Global Exports (No GOUGE) Act, which would punish large companies that set prices higher than the costs directly generated by the tariff (though it also allows additional costs for higher wages). "This applies to final goods, goods assembled in the United States, and to components, and to both imposed and planned tariffs. A baseline price determination period of the average price of a good in the preceding 180 days is established for determining an unreasonably high price," a summary of the bill said.
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The bill applies to companies with domestic gross revenue of $100 million annually or more, and creates a rebuttable presumption of price gouging for companies with domestic gross revenue of more than $1 billion.
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., announced the bill Dec. 1.
"Just as they did during his first term, giant corporations are taking advantage of these price hikes to enrich themselves at their customers’ expense, raising prices far more than their costs have increased, and even raising prices on goods that have not been tariffed at all," DeLauro said in the release.
The release cited the Federal Reserve's Beige Book as proof that is happening. However, the Beige Book said, "The extent of pass-through of higher input costs to customers varied, and depended upon demand, competitive pressures, price sensitivity of consumers, and pushback from clients. There were multiple reports of margin compression or firms facing financial strain stemming from tariffs. Prices declined for certain materials, which firms attributed to sluggish demand, deferred tariff implementation, or reduced tariff rates."
The bill is supported by a number of unions. United Steelworkers President David McCall was quoted in the release as saying: "Tariffs are essential to defending our jobs and industries -- but they’re no excuse for corporate price gouging. When powerful corporations exploit market conditions to hike prices, it erodes trust in critical trade enforcement. The No GOUGE Act rightly reins in that abuse and protects working families."