In Shanghai, CTA's Shapiro Continues Voicing Tariff Concerns; Also Has AI Regulation Worries
The Trump administration's threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports and China's possible retaliatory actions were top of mind for CTA President Gary Shapiro Wednesday at CES Asia. “The challenge with tariffs is that…
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nobody wins, and these threats and the discussion about it causes global economic uncertainty,” he said in Shanghai. The White House announced May 29 that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will release its final tariffs list by Friday and the tariffs will take effect “shortly thereafter” (see 1805290046). The association disagrees with the administration’s position on tariffs, which Shapiro called “a different approach on tariffs than any in my professional life.” He believes Congress would be in opposition, too, “if they took a vote on it,” he said. Making it a point not to criticize President Donald Trump, “especially outside of U.S. soil,” Shapiro said the issue of tariffs is "potentially very dangerous, especially if you go to the next step, which is a trade war.” Meanwhile, government’s “natural reaction is to regulate,” Shapiro said. He described what he called a scary moment in Europe several weeks ago when the European commissioner responsible for privacy set his sights on regulating artificial intelligence. “I shook,” he said, over the idea of “regulating something without understanding it.” Lawmakers should attend shows like CES and CES Asia to better understand how technology helps improve lives, he said.