Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 8 (Xinhua) -- On May 10, the United States intends to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods imported to the United States from 10% to 25%. Upgrading trade frictions is not in the interests of the two peoples and the people of the world. China deeply regrets that if the US tariff measures are implemented, China will have to take necessary countermeasures.
The American Chemical Council spoke out.
On May 5, Eastern Time, US President Trump tweeted that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to 25% on May 10.
On May 6, the American Chemical Council issued a public statement against Trump's tax increase plan.
Cal Dooley, chairman of the American Chemical Council (ACC), said in a statement: & ldquo; China is the third largest export market for U.S. chemical manufacturers, and the trade war is hurting the industry. ”
The statement said, & ldquo; we are beginning to see that tariffs are disrupting supply chains, cutting off markets and showing signs of weakening the competitiveness of the U.S. chemical manufacturing industry. & Several chemicals supplied by China to the United States are unavailable elsewhere and are crucial to American manufacturing. ”
Duley pointed out that the future growth of our industry depends on strong trade relations with China and trade policies that create certainty and predictability for investors, rather than higher tariff threats. ”
Although imports of chemicals from China increased by 22.7% in 2018, retaliatory tariffs inhibited U.S. exports of chemicals to China, resulting in an increase of only 2.7% & mdash in 2018, and the chemical trade deficit almost doubled, from $1.4 billion to $4 billion, the statement said. In the fourth quarter of last year, year-on-year performance deteriorated sharply, with chemical exports falling by 24%. ACC believes that the surge in imports is a direct result of the company's inventory increase before each new 301 tariff increase takes effect.
ACC concluded by emphasizing that “ ACC and its members strongly urged President Trump to abandon imposing higher tariffs. ”
According to ACC's analysis, US tariffs on China's imports of $200 billion include 1364 chemicals and plastics, which were valued at $13.2 billion in 2017.
The chemical industry of the United States is the main export industry of the United States, accounting for more than 10% of the total export trade of the United States. In recent years, the advantage of low-cost shale gas supply in the United States has led to the investment boom in the chemical industry in the United States. According to ACC statistics and analysis, with the completion and commissioning of this wave of chemical projects, the trade surplus of the U.S. chemical industry will further increase to $75 billion by 2025.
The American Chemical Council, developed from the American Association of Manufacturing Chemists, founded in 1872, was reorganized into the American Chemical Manufacturers Association in 1978 and the American Chemical Council in 2000. It is an industry association of American chemical companies, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Research shows that U.S. tariff measures cause losses to businesses
Two recent research papers published by American scholars show that the US government imposes tariffs on imported goods, causing net losses to American consumers and businesses.
According to a research paper entitled "The Impact of the Trade War on American Prices and Welfare in 2018", published jointly by experts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, scholars from Princeton University and scholars from Columbia University, by the end of 2018, the average monthly overpayment of taxes by enterprises and consumers with import business in the United States amounted to $3 billion, resulting in an average monthly overpayment of $1.4 billion. Net loss of US dollar benefits, i.e. a decrease in real income.
The impact of U.S. tariff measures is almost entirely on domestic commodity prices. The paper says that in the first 11 months of 2018, U.S. tariff measures reduced the cumulative real income of U.S. consumers and businesses by about $6.9 billion.