More than 300 companies are talking to government officials in Washington this month about how detrimental the trade war between the U.S. and China has been and will be to their business.
Testifying in front of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, major U.S. companies including Best Buy, HP and Hallmark Cards are voicing concerns about how the additional tariffs that President Donald Trump threatened to slap on China would impact their businesses and cause them to lose business to foreign competitors.
Corporate America and Wall Street are hoping the beginnings of a new deal can be hatched at the G-20 Summit this week when Trump and President Xi Jinping are set to meet.
Here are what some of the executives said last week.
Jason Bonfig, Best Buy’s chief merchandising officer
“Consumer electronics are also not commodities. And in many leading products, there is no practical substitute made outside of China in the near term.”
“American manufacturers may lose share almost immediately to foreign competitors whose products are not made in China and, therefore, not subject to price increases in the form of tariffs.”
Andy Binder, HP Inc.’s vice president and general manager
“We have certainly encountered IP related challenges in China. However, we don’t view broad-based tariffs as the most effective response. ... We are concerned, however, that the proposed tariffs ironically would help rather than hinder infringers.”
“These tariffs would raise prices for HP consumers relative to the suspect goods and would not help us to keep suspect products out of the U.S. market. Frankly speaking, for the printing supplies industry, these tariffs do more damage to the consumers and intellectual property holders like HP than it will do to the IP infringing products.”
Sarah Moe, Hallmark Cards’ federal affairs manager
“There are some products that, for cost or capability reasons, cannot be made here. Many of those products are currently sourced in China. ... It will take time for us to modify our supply chain and effectively exit China, and the immediate impact of the tariff could have substantial impact on our domestic operations.”
Reference: CNBC
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