US Senate pushes back on tariffs

Campaign mulled to show damage caused by trade policies of Trump

The US Senate quietly passed legislation on Thursday that would lower trade barriers on hundreds of items made in China.

With no debate, the Senate unanimously passed the bill that would cut or eliminate tariffs on toasters, chemicals and roughly 1,660 other items made outside the United States. Nearly half of those items are produced in China, according to a Reuters analysis of government records.

The White House has not publicly taken a position on the so-called miscellaneous tariff bill, which has now passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously. The two chambers need to resolve minor differences before they can send the legislation to Trump to sign into law.

Supporters of the bill have said it would boost the economy by getting rid of tariffs set up to protect industries that no longer exist in the US. The National Association of Manufacturers has said US businesses pay $1 million a day on such import duties.

Among the beneficiaries are companies that have moved production offshore. Some domestic manufacturers have complained the bill would undercut their business by making it easier for rivals to bring in cheap foreign goods.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday visited Illinois and Iowa, the nation's leading soybean-producing states. While Trump said his use of tariffs and threats of tariffs have brought countries to the negotiating table, US farm groups are against it.

Trump arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, with his daughter Ivanka. Speaking at a workforce development roundtable, he criticized "worst-ever made" past trade deals reached between the US and other countries. "We don't have one trade deal that's good," Trump said.

He again singled out China for what he said was an attack on the US farm belt. On Wednesday, Trump leveled the same accusation at China.

Surprise agreement

Trump's visit came one day after announcing a surprise agreement with the European Union to increase its purchases of soybeans as part of package that could potentially allow it to avoid Trump's threatened tariffs on automobiles, if the two sides can agree on across-the-board reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers.

No deal was signed with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker during his meeting with Trump on Wednesday.

The US government also announced $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers this week. While some farm groups applauded the handout, many - farmers, farm associations and members of Trump's party in Congress - criticized it.

That criticism continued on Thursday from an Iowa congressman, and US farm groups announced a multimillion-dollar advertising and advocacy campaign against Trump's tariffs.

The nonprofit National Farmers Union, which is backed by the American Farm Bureau Federation and major commodity groups like the National Pork Producers Council, announced a $2.5 million four-month campaign aimed at showcasing how the tariffs are causing pain among US farmers and manufacturers because of Trump's trade policies.

The campaign's main advertisement will run on Fox News, a favorite of Trump's, CNBC and CNN, and on local television and radio in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The NFU estimates that the tariffs foreign countries have placed on US farm products - in retaliation against Trump's various tariffs - have already cost US agricultural interests $13 billion.

After Iowa, Trump went to Granite City, Illinois, where he visited a steel mill that the White House said benefited from his tough trade moves against China and other steel exporters. Granite City Works restarted two of its furnaces and hired hundreds of workers as a direct result of the tariffs the administration placed on imported steel.

The billions of dollars in tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU have helped the local steel industry in Illinois. But in retaliation for the US imposing tariffs on Chinese products, China has imposed tariffs on US exports, including soybeans. Illinois soybean farmers ship more to China than any other state.

Reuters contributed to this story.

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 07/28/2018 page9)