More industrial organizations in the US are joining forces to persuade US President Donald Trump to back down from hundreds of billions of tariffs he will place on imports, particularly from China.
A national lobbying campaign called “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland” has been announced by Americans for Free Trade, a new coalition of more than 80 US trade associations and the Farmers for Free Trade, the coalition backed by the nation’s largest agriculture industry groups on Wednesday.
Aiming to oppose Trump administration’s tariffs on imported products, the campaign will explain the tariff plan’s negative impacts on US businesses, farmers, workers and families through various forms of media such as social media and digital advertisement.
The campaign will start in Chicago, Nashville, Pennsylvania and Ohio the next week, and additional activities will take place in the next two months in key communities throughout the US heartland.
The event organizers put an interactive map on its website named “Tariffs Hurt” that allows users to find stories of job losses, deferred investments, higher prices and other negative consequences by clicking each state on the map.
Before this, many American business associationssubmitted thousands of pages of documents to the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) during public hearing sessions, to oppose the White House’s plan to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
“Instead of seeing our proposals reviewed, we waited only to find harsher tariff measures taken at a more rapid speed, which made us very worried,” said David French, senior vice president of government relations at the National Retail Federation, who added that the trade coalition was set up at the right time to cope with the increasingly severe situation.
Americans for Free Trade represents thousands of companies in industries including planting, forestry, fishery, energy, retail, chemical, machinery manufacturing, clothing, transportation, Internet and information technology, as well as commercial and trade services.
“Every sector of the US economy stands to lose in a trade war,” National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for American families, businesses, farmers and workers threatened by job losses and higher prices as a result of tit-for-tat tariffs.”
“That’s why a diverse coalition of industries is banding together to amplify the voices of Americans and ensure Washington to understand the real-world consequences of a trade war.” he stressed.
A commentary of US National Broadcasting Company (NBC) said the White House took tariffs as a powerful tool for negotiation, attempting to achieve trade agreements for better benefit of all Americans.
But most economists respond that trade deficit cannot always be unfavorable, and it is even not an effective indicator to evaluate a country’s economic health condition, because trade deficit could to some extent reflect economic vitality and resilience of the currency, as well as cut import costs.
Donald J. Boudreaux, economics professor of George Mason University, told People’s Daily that the rising tariffs could bring damages to US companies which relied on importing raw materials for production.
The tariffs would make those so-called “protected” American enterprises unable to effectively allocate their recourse, leading to a waste of resources, he elaborated.
美行业协会发起游说行动反对政府加征关税
人民日报记者 吴乐珺
9月12日，由80多家协会组成的“支持自由贸易美国人联盟”表示，他们与“支持自由贸易农场主联盟”共同发起名为“关税伤害美国腹地”的全国性游说活动，共同反对美国政府对进口产品加征关税。该游说行动将通过社交媒体、数字广告等多种形式讲述加征关税对美国企业、农民、工人和家庭造成的伤害。
具体的游说活动计划从下周开始，先于芝加哥、纳什维尔、宾夕法尼亚州和俄亥俄等地展开，未来两个月还将在美国中部腹地的主要社区举办更多活动。组织方在其设立的名为“关税之伤”的网站上设立了一幅互动地图，用户随意点击美国任意一个州，就能找到因为加征关税而造成就业损失、投资推迟、物价上涨等不利后果的故事。
此前，美国多家商业团体已参加过美国贸易政策代表办公室举行的公开听证会，提交过数千页资料，用以反对美国政府对从中国进口价值2000亿美元的商品征收关税。
“让人非常担心的是，我们看到的不是审议过程，而是节奏更快、程度更大的关税措施。面对这一重大升级，现在是时候组建这样的贸易联盟了”，全美零售联合会负责政府关系的高级副总裁戴维·弗伦奇表示。
“支持自由贸易美国人联盟”代表的行业十分广泛，涵盖种植业、林业、渔业、能源、零售、化工、机械制造、服装鞋帽、交通运输、网络与信息技术、商贸服务等。
全美零售联合会主席马修·谢伊在声明中表示：“美国经济的每一个领域都将在贸易战中受损。”他称，对美国家庭、企业、农民和工人而言，由于针锋相对的关税措施，他们面临着失业和物价上涨的威胁，这正是美国各行各业联合起来放大普通美国民众声音、确保政府理解贸易战真实后果的重要原因。
美国全国广播公司财经频道评论称，白宫正在把关税当作一种强大的谈判工具，试图用它赢得对所有美国人更有利的贸易协定，但多数经济学家表示，贸易逆差不一定是坏事，甚至不是衡量一国经济健康状况的有用指标，因为贸易逆差可以某种程度上反映出经济的活力和货币的抗压性，它对降低进口成本有利。
美国乔治·梅森大学经济学教授唐纳德·布德罗对本报记者表示，加征关税会令依赖进口原材料进行生产的美国企业遭受损失，而对那些受到关税保护的美国企业而言，将导致其掌握的资源无法得到最有效配置，从而造成资源浪费。