In Bipartisan Push, Senators Shaheen & Moran Urge U.S. Trade Representative to Extend Exclusions from Tariffs on Goods from China

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, called on United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer to extend exclusions from tariffs applied to goods from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that are due to expire at the end of this year.

“Many of those exclusions… stand to expire at the end of this year, injecting risk and uncertainty into the U.S. economy at a time when we can least afford it,” wrote the Senators. “If these tariffs are allowed to snap back into place for products that were previously excluded, it would represent a precipitous and immediate increase in costs for firms that rely on these inputs to add value to products manufactured here at home.”

The Senators concluded by calling on the USTR to prevent this outcome by extending through December 31, 2021, those exclusions from Section 301 tariffs that are set to expire December 31, 2020.

The letter can be read in full here.

Last year, Senators Shaheen and Moran sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer requesting an exclusion process for the third round of tariffs applied to goods from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Included in Senator Shaheen and Moran’s FY2019 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act was report language requiring that USTR “establish an exclusion process for tariffs imposed on goods subject to Section 301 tariffs in round 3,” which USTR committed to implementing as a result of the Senators’ efforts.