April ’23 at-a-glance … taxes, tariffs & trade

NAFEM calls on President Biden to eliminate tariffs

NAFEM advocacy efforts continue following the release of the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (USITC) report confirming that U.S. businesses are paying for the cost of tariffs. As a reminder, the report followed a mandatory, four-year review to which NAFEM and its members contributed substantially.

As part of the National Foreign Trade Council’s Tariff Reform Coalition working to ensure greater Congressional oversight and review of presidential use of tariff authority, NAFEM contributed to comments about the tariffs submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the House Ways and Means Committee. The statement provides one of the most complete summaries of the situation and policy alternatives to date, stating, “Coalition members believe that neither the Section 232 or 301 tariffs have been effective at achieving their intended objective and the president should eliminate them. They amount to an estimated $50 billion additional tax on U.S. consumers each year.”

NAFEM continues working on behalf of members to illustrate the negative impact of the tariffs on U.S. businesses and advocate that they be abolished.

USTR prevails in Section 301 lawsuit

The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled in favor of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), affirming the rationale it justified to impose Section 301 tariffs. The decision is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit within the next two months.