Democratic Senators Say 301 Exclusions on PPE, Nonwoven Fabric Should End
Eleven of the 49 Democratic senators have told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the inputs for manufacturing protective gowns and masks and finished masks and surgical gowns should not continue to receive exclusions to Section 301 duties. The previous administration decided that goods needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic should not face higher tariffs, but these senators, led by Ohio's Sen. Sherrod Brown and Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, argue that domestic manufacturers need the tariff barrier to be competitive.
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"Nationwide reports of healthcare workers reusing PPE and donning trash bags or plastic ponchos for safety in March and April of 2020 underscore the necessity of domestic PPE production capability," they wrote Oct. 21. "Building a robust domestic supply chain means prohibiting anti-competitive PPE production. Once China began dumping lower quality masks onto the American market, those same companies that announced increases in production to save lives announced layoffs in the thousands. As one example, Honeywell initially invested in new plants across Smithfield, Rhode Island, and Phoenix, Arizona, only to announce 1,170 layoffs months later due to a drop in demand for American-made N95 masks."
They also said that Chinese goods are not just sold below cost, but can be dangerous: "U.S. agencies have confiscated or rejected millions of units upon importation that do not meet their advertised specifications and, in Fiscal Year 2020, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection confiscated nearly 13 million units of counterfeit face masks, primarily from China."
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, an interest group that promotes American manufacturing, praised the letter. "Allowing Chinese imports to be excluded from current Section 301 tariffs -- especially for critical products like PPE -- is not how you Build Back Better. Instead of rewarding China by granting tariff relief, we strongly urge Ambassador Tai and the Biden administration to not exclude any product from Section 301 tariffs imposed on Chinese imports,” CEO Michael Stumo said.