On June 17, hundreds of representatives from American companies across industries are pleading with their government to drop more planned tariffs on Chinese goods. One after another, they testified that more duties will pose significant risks and challenge to their operations.
It will be devastating, especially for low-income families and small businesses. These have been raised before, but they didn't stop rounds of levies on 250 billion dollars' worth of Chinese goods by the Trump administration. Now, an additional 300 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports are at stake.
The U.S. Trade Representative started the seven-day public hearings on Monday, and they're set to wrap up next Tuesday before the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet face to face. Will business opposition to the tariffs in the hearings matter?
"The difference between the government perspective apparently and the business community perspective is that trade is fundamentally driven by the Private Sector. The U.S. government needs to do a better job of listening to the private sector.
One of the findings of the letter was that if another 25 percent tariffs is imposed on the 300 billion worth of Chinese imports into the U.S., it will possibly cost 2 million U.S. jobs and consumers would pay millions of dollars," Anna Ashton, the Director at the U.S. China Business Council, told CGTN.
During the hearings, the business community had done everything they can to ensure their views are heard. They have been closely engaged with the U.S. government and encouraging them to go back to the table.
"There is nothing more important than reengaging in talks. We hope the two leaders will provide the guidance that both governments go back to talks. We don’t have higher expectations that an actual trade agreement will be reached through the G20 talks. There isn’t much hope because they haven’t talked in time but if they go back to talks then that would be progress, "Ashton said.
The other thing that the Pearson Institute did, while the U.S. is losing market share in China, there are companies that have invested China for decades. China is a big growing market and they want participate in that market.
"We’re really concerned about the current trajectory. About hawkishness, we’re also worried about national security in trade space. We want to make sure that national security is clearly defined. There’s so much to be gained from China-U.S. cooperation to solve problems in the world. We’d like cooperation for the whole world," Ashton added.
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