WASHINGTON - A wide swath of pro-trade American business groups has asked the Biden administration for another month to comment on plans to impose steeper tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles, batteries, solar products and other goods, effectively delaying the Aug. 1 start date for many of the duties.
The group, representing manufacturers, retailers, technology firms, agribusiness groups, energy companies and transport firms, also requested that USTR hold a public hearing on the matter, as it did in 2017 and 2018 for prior tariffs.President Joe Biden last month announced the tariff hikes to protect U.S. manufacturers in strategic sectors from Chinese excess industrial capacity that is flooding global markets with exports.
"However, our members have indicated that they require additional time to gather and assess such information given" the breadth of the breadth of the 387 product categories slated for higher duties and the submission format.News of the request comes as another policy group led by the United Steelworkers union and domestic manufacturing companies called for even stronger trade barriers to Chinese imports. The Alliance for American Manufacturing said the U.S.