US business group urges Donald Trump to delay new China tariffs coming ‘at the worst possible time’
- Americans for Free Trade, comprising 150 industry associations, wants US president to delay levying 15 per cent duties on US$300 billion of Chinese goods
- The tariffs, first set at 10 per cent, moved a step closer as the US government scheduled an official filing confirming the move
A broad coalition of American industry associations on Wednesday appealed to US President Donald Trump to delay new tariffs on imports from China, arguing that the punitive measures against Beijing “come at the worst possible time”.
Some 150 business groups comprising an umbrella organisation called Americans for Free Trade sent a letter on Wednesday to Trump, to fight tariffs of 15 per cent on US$300 billion of Chinese imports to the US, many of them consumer goods.
Those tariffs, which were earlier set to be 10 per cent, moved a step closer on Tuesday as the US government scheduled an official filing confirming the move. US tariffs of 25 per cent already apply to some US$250 billion worth of imports from China.
“We are writing with an urgent request that you postpone all tariff rate increases on Chinese goods that are scheduled to take effect this year,” Americans for Free Trade said in the letter.
“These tariff rate increases – some starting as early as Sunday – come at the worst possible time, right in the middle of the busy holiday shipping period.
