News
May 6, 2019
Retailers respond to threat to raise tariffs
The National Retail Federation‘s (NRF) David French, senior vice president for government relations, responded to the President’s threat to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent.
“Tariffs are taxes paid by American businesses and consumers, not by China. A sudden tariff increase with less than a week’s notice would severely disrupt U.S. businesses, especially small companies that have limited resources to mitigate the impact. If the administration follows through on this threat, American consumers will face higher prices and U.S. jobs will be lost,” said French.
“We want to see meaningful changes in China’s trade practices, but it makes no sense to punish Americans as a negotiating tactic. We urge the administration to reconsider this tax hike on Americans and stay at the bargaining table until a deal is reached,” said French.
A report from Trade Partnership found that increasing tariffs on $200 billion of goods to 25 percent, coupled with tariffs already in place and retaliation, would reduce U.S. employment by over 934,000 jobs, cost the average family of four 767 dollars and reduce U.S. GDP by 0.37 percent.
