President Fucktard Trump, take your idiotic trade war and shove it somewhere you stupid piece of crap.

New York Times - Companies Warn More China Tariffs Will Cripple Them and Hurt Consumers

By Alan Rappeport

August 20, 2018

WASHINGTON — As the United States and China prepare to resume fractious trade talks this week, executives from American companies flocked to Washington on Monday to warn the Trump administration that imposing tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would cripple their businesses and raise prices on everything from bicycles to car seats to refrigerators.

Dozens of companies voiced concerns to trade officials during the first of six days of hearings on the administration’s plan to impose tariffs of as much as 25 percent on a wide array of Chinese imports. The length of the hearing by the United States Trade Representative, initially scheduled for just three days, was doubled to accommodate the leaders of nearly 400 companies and trade groups who will testify in hopes that they can influence the final list of products subject to tariffs.

While the companies appearing before the government panel varied widely, their concerns struck a similar theme: The United States is no longer equipped to produce many materials that they depend on for their products. The rise of global supply chains has shifted the bulk of manufacturing and production outside the United States, leaving companies no choice but to rely on foreign materials, including those from China.

Jim Day, a vice president at the ’47 Brand hat company, said it would take at least a decade for the United States to develop the manufacturing capacity to produce the hats he sells because such facilities were shuttered many years ago. If President Trump’s tariffs move ahead, Mr. Day said, it will mean job cuts at his Massachusetts-based business.

“We’re supportive of the president’s desire to protect U.S. businesses, continue economic growth and bring jobs to the U.S.,” Mr. Day said. “Our position is this proposed tariff increase would do the opposite.”

Mr. Trump has said his tariffs are a negotiating tactic to compel China to lower its trade barriers, stop the theft of intellectual property and open its markets to businesses from the United States. His trade policy, which includes tariffs on steel and aluminum from countries across the globe, is also aimed at lifting American manufacturing by making it less cost-effective to outsource production overseas.

But companies that rely heavily on Chinese imports say that approach will destroy many of the American businesses the president has said he is trying to help.

Jennifer Harned, the president of Bell Sports, which makes helmets for cyclists and skaters, said the tariffs her company would face on pads and straps from China could send costs soaring, potentially nudging cyclists to go helmet-free.

“We fear consumers could forgo utilizing products altogether, choosing to ignore safety laws perhaps by not buying a bike light and getting hit by a car because a driver does not see them or not wearing a helmet and dying from an impact to their skull,” said Ms. Harned, whose Illinois-based company employs 500 workers.

Others suggested that national health care costs could be inflated by Mr. Trump’s tariffs if the price of fitness products put that $600 treadmill out of reach or made even basic sporting goods unattainable.

Tom Cove of the Sports and Fitness Industry Association said 10 to 25 percent tariffs on plastic youth baseball gloves could discourage children from taking up the game and getting involved with exercise activities generally. He argued that raising the cost of getting in shape would be detrimental to the United States economy in the long term.

“It makes no sense to drive up the price of products that otherwise contribute to lowering the national expenditure on health care,” Mr. Cove said.

And, he added, finding alternatives to China or producing such products domestically is not the answer for companies that have been depending on Chinese manufacturing for decades.

“China remains a vital and not easily replaceable link in our industry’s supply chain,” Mr. Cove said. “Shifting manufacturing to other countries is simply not feasible in real time or to scale.”

Economists have warned that the humming American economy could begin to slow if the United States engages in a protracted trade war with China. The administration has already imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods and those on an additional $16 billion worth are expected to go into effect on Thursday. China has retaliated with its own tariffs on American products, and neither country has shown signs that it is willing to back down.

A delegation of midlevel Chinese officials arrives in Washington this week for a new round of trade talks on Wednesday and Thursday with American economic policymakers at the Treasury Department, but little progress is expected to be made. In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Mr. Trump said he has “no time frame” for ending the trade dispute with China.

The tariffs being debated this week would hit products such as fish, petroleum, chemicals, handbags and a broad array of items that affect consumer products. This month, Mr. Trump ordered his administration to consider more than doubling the proposed tariffs from 10 to 25 percent out of frustration that earlier rounds of tariffs failed to compel China to acquiesce. If imposed, businesses and consumers could feel the pain before the November midterm elections.

The White House is “unwavering in their view that the U.S. will ‘win’ this trade war and that the Chinese government will have to capitulate,” Henrietta Treyz, the director of economic policy research at Veda Partners, an investment advisory firm, said in a note to clients. “We do not have evidence to suggest that China is preparing to capitulate in such a manner and do not see an end to the tariffs in the near term.”

At the hearing at the United States International Trade Commission building on Monday, business leaders said that they understood Mr. Trump’s desire to negotiate a more favorable trade deal with China, but that tariffs were a misguided approach.

Some officials there represented businesses not yet on the tariff list, but feared they could be next. Among them was Stephen Lang, the president of the American Bridal and Prom Industry Association, who said it is impossible to find people in the United States to do the intricate beading and sewing necessary to make prom and wedding dresses on a large scale.

“We can’t make wedding gowns and prom dresses in the United States,” said Mr. Lang, who said he feared what would happen if his industry was the next to face tariffs. “Nobody wants to do this work.”

Mr. Lang, who is the chief executive of Mon Cheri Bridals in New York, said he had to change banks this year because his lender thought tariffs posed a risk to his business.

“I shouldn’t be put out of business because of an ill-placed attempt to balance the books between these two countries,” he said.

Not every company represented at the hearing is expected to oppose the tariffs. On Friday, Michael Korchmar, the owner of Korchmar, a leather specialty company, is scheduled to testify about the pain China has inflicted on his business.

“My company has been severely impacted by China’s predatory marketing practices throughout the last 38 years, costing the jobs of almost 500 U.S. manufacturing workers,” Mr. Korchmar wrote in a letter requesting to testify. “These additional duties will help us greatly to continue rebuilding our U.S.A. manufacturing.”

A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 21, 2018, on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Companies Say Tariffs Put Safety, and Proms, at Risk.

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