Global Times: The US administration is considering new “national security” tariffs on a half-dozen industries, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday local time. The reported planned move again demonstrated US’ strategy to rebuild tariff frame to exert pressure externally to achieve the goal of “America First”, a Chinese expert said on Tuesday, warning more disruptions on global supply and production chains.
The Wall Street Journal reported the new tariffs being considered could cover industries such as large-scale batteries, cast iron and iron fittings, plastic piping, industrial chemicals and power grid and telecom equipment, citing people familiar with the plans. They would be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, said the report.
The new Section 232 tariffs would be issued separately from other levies that US President Donald Trump has already announced since the Supreme Court threw out many of his tariffs on Friday morning. Those announced include a new 15 percent tariff that Trump can keep in place for five months, and a number of levies planned for after that period, which would be issued under another legal authority, Section 301 of the Trade Act, said the report.
“The US reported plans demonstrated its strategy to rebuild tariff frame following the Supreme Court’s decision, showing that it will continue to exert pressure to other countries to achieve its goals,” Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Zhou said that the US administration used Section 232 as a pretext for trade protectionism, disguising economic competition as a national security issue, which violates WTO principles. The expert also warned that the planned tariffs will further cause price fluctuations and supply chain disruptions.
Earlier Monday, Trump threatened higher tariffs on goods from countries that “play games” with their existing US trade agreements following the US Supreme Court’s decision quashing his global duties. “Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to. BUYER BEWARE!!!” Trump posted Monday on social media, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Bloomberg described Trump’s post as “the latest sign he’s digging in on his plan to unilaterally impose broad tariffs on products entering the US market.” But after the court’s decision, he has less flexibility to do so, according to the report.
US latest tariff threat also demonstrates that, even in the face of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the US administration’s zero-sum model of wielding tariffs for leverage has seen no essential change, Zhou said. “However, facts have proven that imposing tariffs ultimately increases the vulnerability and instability of US supply chains, which in turn is passed on to American businesses and consumers.”
NBC News reported that FedEx sued the Trump administration on Monday local time, seeking a “full refund” of all tariffs it paid the government under the overturned International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
FedEx said in the lawsuit lodged at the Customs and Border Protection Agency in the US Court of International Trade that when tariffs were in effect under the IEEPA law, it imported goods from countries subject to the duties. The company says it “paid IEEPA duties to the United States and thus have suffered injury caused by those orders,” NBC News reported.
In addition to FedEx, top associations of American businesses are demanding to be repaid for Donald Trump’s tariffs following Friday’s supreme court ruling, The Guardian reported.
The US National Retail Federation, which represents a number of US retailers, from Walmart to small brands and manufacturers, called for “a seamless process to refund the tariffs to US importers.” Dan Anthony, director of the business coalition We Pay the Tariffs, noted that the impact of the tariffs has been particularly hard on small businesses, which have taken out loans, delayed hiring and canceled expansion plans to accommodate import tariffs, according to the report.
American businesses, by pursuing the refund of paid tariffs through relevant legal procedures, demonstrate their clear negative stance toward the tariff policies and their desire to reduce these additional trade barriers, Zhou said.
In fact, the implementation of the US protectionist move has already caused multiple negative impacts: tariffs have directly driven up supply chain costs, leading to higher prices for consumer goods, significant increases in the costs of industrial intermediate goods and raw materials, and thereby weakening the pricing competitiveness of American businesses and products in the global market, the expert noted.
“Although the process of refunding tariffs may be relatively complex and lengthy, the US government should seriously address the legitimate demands of businesses, confront the negative domestic impacts caused by unilateralism, and refrain from stubbornly persisting on the path of imposing additional tariffs,” Zhou said.
