On April 21, 2021,U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE), along with 38 other members of the Senate, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine C. Tai, asking her to restart the exclusion process for imports from China subject to tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The Trump administration set up an exclusion process to help U.S. manufacturers and businesses receive relief from the tariffs when an imported good was not available outside of China, or when the tariffs caused severe economic harm to U.S. industry. Unfortunately, those exclusions expired at the end of 2020, and the Biden administration has not restarted a process for businesses to apply for new exclusions.
Senator Portman and Carper were joined by Senators Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME), John Barrasso, M.D. (R-WY), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Roy Blunt (R-MO), James Lankford (R-OK), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Cornyn (R-TX), James Risch (R-ID), Joni K. Ernst (R-IA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), John Boozman (R-AR), John Hoeven (R-ND), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Todd Young (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Michael F. Bennet (D-CO), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Ted Cruz (R-TX), M. Michael Rounds (R-SD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).
“In order to provide certainty and predictability to these businesses, and give them time to plan and modify their supply chains, we ask that you renew expired and expiring Section 301 exclusions. Doing so will give American businesses relief until a full exclusion process can be reinstated,” wrote the Senators. “We were pleased to see the Biden Administration renew exclusions granted by the Trump Administration for health-related imports to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the longer-term, we hope that you will restart a process to permit companies to apply for exclusions. Such a process should emphasize transparency, speed, consistency, and fairness, and should acknowledge both the practical realities of global value chains and the broader aim of supply chain diversification.
Read the letter HERE
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