On Sunday, May 5th President Trump announced his intention via Twitter to pass further tariff increases on Chinese imports. The President promised to raise tariff rates from the current 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods by the end of the week.
The move is seen largely as a negotiation tactic as Chinese officials are scheduled to arrive in the US this week to continue talks on a trade deal between the two countries. Earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly made headway on some of the more difficult aspects of the trade deal, exploring various ways to come to agreement with Chinese officials including rolling back punitive tariffs.
In an attempt to curtail the unilateral actions by the President to increase trade barriers, Senator Mike Lee of Utah has introduced the Global Trade Accountability Act which would require both chambers of Congress to approve any “unilateral trade actions” by the president before they could take effect.
OTS Astracon will continue to monitor the situation and inform our customer of any updates. Please feel free to contact your account representative for additional information.