China'S Commodity Tariff Hearing Is Over, But The US Business Is In A Panic.

Recently, the office of the United States trade representative held a public hearing on the last day of the US proposal to levy tariffs on 300 billion US dollars in China. On the seven working day hearing, the US business owners from different industries appeared flustered and helpless. They continuously expressed their opposition to the Levy of tariffs and urged the US side to resolve trade conflicts as soon as possible.

US businesses: the pain of tariffs is beyond words.

The round of hearing began in June 17th. More than 90% of the more than 300 enterprises and industry representatives attending the hearing opposed tariffs on Chinese goods. Delegates from all walks of life, including footwear, sports and fitness equipment, mobile electronic equipment, electrical appliances and accessories, generally believe that tariffs on Chinese goods will damage the interests of American businesses and consumers.

Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company is a home appliance brand with more than 400 employees, producing electric socket and other products. Jason Teles, President and chief executive officer of the company, said that most of the company's products were manufactured in China's factories and placed on shelves of large retailers such as WAL-MART and Taghit, and finally entered thousands of American families. He said helplessly that the tariff list had covered all their products, and the pain of tariffs was unspeakable for American enterprises.

Teles: "the previous 250 billion US dollar tariff list of China exported to the United States is the first, second, third batch of China tariff list of the US trade representative office, and each batch has an impact on us. 92% of our imports have been imposed a 25% tariff because of the three batch list. Now the fourth batch list, which is the 300 billion US dollar tariff list of China exported to the United States, covers the remaining 8% of our products. Now all our products are subject to 25% duty.

On June 17th, in Washington, D.C., slogans against tariffs were placed on a fishing rod. On June 17th, in Washington, D.C., slogans against tariffs were placed on a fishing rod.

Many small and medium-sized business owners who had similar experiences with rice were heard at the hearing. They said that small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States were more difficult to deal with than big enterprises. Steve Stokes, a trampoline manufacturer in the US, admitted that if a new tariff is imposed on Chinese products, they will have to cut costs through layoffs and make up for the tariff expenses of enterprises. This is something they have never met before, and he is at a loss.

Us entrepreneurs are laying down everything but still unable to deal with tariffs.

Sage Chandler, vice president of international trade in the consumer Technology Association, pointed out that the association wrote in its written testimony to the office of the US trade representative that because of the inability to solve the problem of rising costs, tariffs made these enterprises face decisions of life and death. Some enterprises even learned from the most basic concepts such as customs codes in the us to understand customs duties. The influence of oneself and the way to deal with it.

Chandler: "the Small Business Council of the association has the biggest objection to tariffs. They do not know what to do. They never considered the word" tariff "in their own world before. At the very beginning, I had to spend a lot of time teaching them what the US customs code was and how to find it to determine whether their products were subject to tariffs because they had never thought about them before. For these enterprises, tariffs have disrupted their production and made them unable to make the next judgement.

Chandler also said that the difficulties brought by tariffs to small and medium-sized enterprises are all-around and overwhelming. They can not find products that can be replaced, have no capacity to take actions, and even have to stop everything they are good at to learn how to deal with customs duties.

Chandler: "small and medium-sized enterprises have no ability to take immediate action. They have no funds, and do not immediately go out to find other products in situ. They want to find a new product and need a lot of time and investment. They do not have it. At the same time, because many countries can not keep up with the infrastructure, many new products do not exist at all. Before that, these small and medium-sized enterprises have not experienced these things. They used to put their time and energy in what they are good at, and now they need to put down everything to deal with customs duties.

It is difficult for US companies to transfer supply chain. Chinese manufacturing industry cannot be replaced.

According to statistics from the US Department of Commerce, more than 85% of toys in the US market are imported from China. In 2018, the United States imported toys worth 26 billion 700 million US dollars (about 183 billion 600 million yuan) from China. Because Chinese suppliers have the advantage of price and capacity, it is difficult for enterprises to transfer the supply chain. Mond, vice chairman of the American Toy Association, petitioned the US government on behalf of 950 American toy manufacturers, calling on the White House to stop tariffs on toys exported to China.

Mond: "our toy industry really depends on the toys produced in China. We have a great demand for toys produced in China. There are many demands for toys. There are different needs for toys in different seasons. The supply must keep up with the demand. In addition to China, we can not find producers who can meet our needs in terms of production capacity and technology. 700 thousand people are employed in the toy industry in the United States, and tariffs have affected 60 thousand of them, accounting for almost 1/10.

A few days' hearing came down. In the testimony of all walks of life, the most common thing we heard was "we can't live without China!" In response, Guo Xiangang, a researcher at the China Institute of international studies, said that American entrepreneurs have stated objective facts, and the position and role of Chinese manufacturing industry in the global supply chain is irreplaceable.

Guo Xiangang: "first, China's position in the global supply chain is a result of the long-term development of economic globalization. China's reform and opening up for more than 40 years, China's manufacturing industry is now the world's largest and top ranking, not only the output is large, but also our variety is complete, very complete, no manufacturing industry in any country can replace China. Second, the quality of China's products is also improving. This makes some American Chambers of commerce only import products from China, otherwise they will cause losses, and even some products can only be imported from China, because there are no similar products elsewhere. "

Opposition to tariffs is a public opinion, and the United States cannot repair the supply chain that has been destroyed by itself.

Data show that by the US government tariff and trade policy, the CEO confidence index of American enterprises is declining, compared with the same period last year, the CEO confidence of enterprises has dropped by 10%, and the Sino US trade consultation failed in May this year, which also led to a sharp fall in June's CEO confidence index.

It was also reflected in the June survey of the National Retail Federation. 81% of consumers "fear that a sustained trade war will lead to price increases", an increase of 12 percentage points since November 2018. Liu Zhiqin, a senior researcher at Chongyang Finance Research Institute, Renmin University of China, believes that most American companies oppose the Levy of tariffs on Chinese products, and that if the supply chain is destroyed, the United States can not repair it by its own strength.

Liu Zhiqin: "first, the overwhelming majority of American businesses oppose tariffs on Chinese goods. This is a very important factor in public opinion and public opinion. And the second point is that if the Trump administration sticks to his erroneous policies and insists on imposing tariffs on Chinese goods, there will still be serious consequences for us to take a beating in the future. This is something that American businesses have in mind, and American consumers will pay for such irresponsible practices of the US government. Once the supply chain production chain and value chain are damaged, the US family can not repair and restore all these supply and value chains, which will have a devastating impact on the US market and the US economy, which will lead to more and more serious consequences.

Consumer concerns over the price increase caused by trade wars intensified: the National Retail Federation's consumer concerns over price increases caused by trade wars increased.

It is understood that after the hearing is over, the public will have a week to submit supplementary comments to the office of the United States trade representative. Prior to the hearing, 520 businesses and 141 trade associations in the United States jointly wrote to President Trump, urging the government not to impose tariffs on goods imported from China, and to return to the negotiating table to reach a settlement with China.