China is an important market for the export of many aquatic products from the United States, such as lobsters. The United States provoked a trade war to force China to take countermeasures, and the U.S. industry is worried that agricultural exports will suffer losses. The picture shows workers at a lobster factory in Maine processing lobsters. People's Vision

Editor's note: The Office of the United States Trade Representative recently officially announced a tariff list of $16 billion worth of goods imported from China, which will be subject to a 25% tariff from August 23. Previously, from July 24 to 25, the Office of the United States Trade Representative held a public hearing and listened to the speeches of 82 presidents of various industry associations, company founders, and corporate CEOs to solicit opinions on the tariff list of $16 billion worth of goods. As a result, 76 people opposed and only 6 people agreed. The staff of the Office of the United States Trade Representative tried hard to dig out evidence of China's infringement of intellectual property rights and unfair trade from the participating companies, but the vast majority of companies denied this. The vast majority of business representatives pointed out that the imposition of tariffs will harm the development of the U.S. economy. Despite this, the U.S. government ignored the consensus of the industry and insisted on launching measures to escalate trade frictions. Observers pointed out that the US has fabricated a set of policy logics that distort the truth of Sino-US economic and trade relations for the purpose of China's political needs and suppressing China's development.

The following is the transcript of the speeches of some industry representatives at the hearing released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Damage the US manufacturing revival

Speaker: Ed Brzytwa, American Chemistry Council

As representatives of US chemical product manufacturers, we ask the government to remove all chemical and plastic products from the list of tariffs for two important reasons.

First, it may damage the US manufacturing revival and harm the US economic interests. In the past 10 years, the United States has announced an investment of $194 billion in the chemical manufacturing industry, and the imposition of tariffs will put nearly half of this at risk. This will not only affect our member companies, but also increase the costs of downstream industries that purchase US-made chemicals, including farmers and manufacturers. Imposing tariffs on chemical and plastic products will weaken the US chemical industry and the overall competitiveness of the United States.

Second, it will trigger retaliatory tariffs from China, which will give China an upper hand in some of the industries we are trying to develop. If the United States does not impose tariffs and China does not impose retaliatory tariffs, American chemical producers will enjoy greater competitiveness than Chinese producers because of our shale gas and the lower costs of producing and exporting chemicals. China knows that chemicals are essential to almost all production activities in the United States and downstream industries that make Chinese consumer goods and exports. Therefore, China's retaliatory tariffs are equivalent to a double blow to the United States. We believe that China is targeting U.S. chemical exports because this is an area with the greatest potential for development in the United States. Of the 114 products listed in China's retaliatory list 2, 54 are chemicals, plastics and plastic products. China has begun retaliating since June 20. Its list will affect $5.4 billion worth of U.S. chemical exports to China. If the United States continues to impose a 25% tariff, China's retaliatory list 2 sends a clear signal: it will retaliate again.

The American Chemistry Council supports the administration¡¯s efforts to address concerns about China, but we firmly believe that these long-standing issues should be resolved through constructive negotiations within the framework of the WTO, rather than through the crude tool of tariffs that harm the world¡¯s most important economic relationship. There is ample evidence that tariffs will lead to higher costs for downstream producers, higher prices for consumers, fewer jobs in downstream industries, and negative impacts on U.S. economic growth, investment, and innovation.

Extremely harmful to the U.S. semiconductor supply chain

Speaker: Jonathan Davis, Global Vice President of Industry Advocacy, Semiconductor Industry Association International

Our industry relies on a complex and extensive supply chain that spans the globe. According to U.S. government data, more than 40% of U.S. imports of these products from China come from companies headquartered or owned in the United States, meaning that U.S. companies will suffer as much or more than their Chinese competitors (due to tariffs).

The United States is the world leader in the semiconductor industry, with a global market share of more than 40%. Semiconductors, aircraft, and soybeans are all industries where the United States has a large trade surplus with China. By allowing companies better access to foreign markets, trade promotes research and development, driving innovation and growth. Without trade opportunities, innovation will dry up. Without innovation, export opportunities diminish.

That¡¯s why we believe that a 25% tariff would be extremely detrimental to the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. Under the proposed tariffs, the loss of exports and additional tax and revenue losses would exceed $500 million per year. This action would stifle innovation and put tens of millions of jobs at risk.

It¡¯s impossible to replicate these factories in the U.S.

Speaker: Gregory Husisian, Partner at Foley & Lardner

Alps North America is a leading supplier of electronic switches and controls. It sells these products to enable buyers to develop and produce electronic components such as sensors, switches, capacitive touch panels, etc., which are installed in automotive systems, car infotainment systems, and other familiar electronic devices.

However, producing and selling these components is a low-margin business. Profitability depends on a far-flung global supply chain. Only in this way can Alps meet the needs of consumers around the world for highly reliable, low-cost electronic components.

Most of the products Alps sells to American companies are produced by itself or in its affiliated factories, and we cannot replicate these factories in the United States. By importing these products from Chinese factories, Alps North America supports American innovation, American downstream production, and high-quality, high-paying manufacturing jobs, thereby supporting the U.S. economy.

Alps North America sells millions of dollars of parts every month to major American manufacturers in the automotive, home furnishings and electronics industries. If 301 tariffs are imposed on these products, Alps North America will have no choice but to pass these tariffs on to its customers; our competitors can enter overseas markets without paying any tariffs for the same electronic components.

Affects the vast majority of our business

Speaker: Kate Cumminsky, Safety and Compliance Manager, Cermak LLC, USA

We are a global chemical supplier. I would like to say that the imposition of tariffs will affect American chemical distributors. After the tariffs are imposed, in order to maintain customers and maintain competitiveness, we need to spend a long time and high costs to establish ties with new manufacturers and customers. If the process goes smoothly, it will take about half a year to a year. It costs about $10,000 to establish a relationship with each new manufacturer, $2,000 to add each new customer, and there are months of negative impact in getting products to market.

Today, we are more concerned that the imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese products will affect the vast majority of our business in the United States, and disrupt the market in this way, which is likely to put a secure supply chain at risk.

Major impact on the healthcare system and consumers

Speaker: Jim Pigott, representative of Medline Private Medical Supply

Medline is the largest private medical supply company in the United States. We sell more than 200,000 different medical products. The imposition of a 25% tariff will not help achieve the goals of Section 301 and will have a very negative impact on our low-margin business segments - which will greatly affect hospitals, consumers and the medical community.

We import low-priced, low-tech, high-volume products that are not protected by patents. We have never been required to transfer any technology or intellectual property to China.

The tariffs will have a significant impact on our business and customers. In the short term, the tariffs will negatively impact our profitability, which will in turn impact our investment and employment in the United States. In the long term, the tariffs will cause hospitals, surgical centers, nursing homes, and individual consumers who purchase our products to pay more. Changing our supply chain in the short term is not a practical solution, and moving the manufacturing of these low-tech products back to the United States is not a viable option.

The 25% tariff on these low-margin products will not advance the goals of Section 301 and could have a significant impact on the healthcare system and American consumers.

We are not required to transfer technology

Speaker: Slone Pearson, Global Trade Counsel, Fortive Corporation

Fortive Corporation is a diversified industrial conglomerate with annual revenues of $6.7 billion and 23 operating companies. We design, develop, manufacture, and sell engineered products, software, and services for end markets. We have 127 facilities in 27 states and 13,000 U.S. employees.

We believe the proposed remedies are overly broad, inconsistent with the objectives of the Section 301 investigation, and will have unintended negative consequences. We ask the U.S. Trade Representative to take clear exemptions to ensure that the remedies themselves are reasonable and do not restrict U.S. commerce.

Our company and its subsidiaries have been operating in China for decades. For decades, we have not been affected by the Chinese government policies involved in the Section 301 investigation. We have not been asked by the Chinese government to transfer technology or intellectual property. On the contrary, we have established a comprehensive intellectual property protection program in China.

We believe that the imposition of tariffs on companies like ours is unfair, incorrect, and illogical. Imposing tariffs on wholly foreign-owned enterprises will not achieve the desired effect. Doing so will only harm America's own companies and employees.

The United States appears to be moving away from a free trade system

Speaker: Aaron Padilla, Senior Advisor, American Petroleum Institute (API)

API is the only China trade council for the U.S. natural gas and oil industry, with nearly 620 members covering exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline and marine operations. The natural gas and oil industry contributes to 10.3 million jobs in the United States. Unfortunately, the government's tariffs on steel and other imported goods have hindered job creation and economic growth.

The Section 301 tariffs have affected approximately 100 products. Our industry relies on these components to manufacture oilfield equipment in the United States, which is either deployed in Chinese oil and gas production or exported to global markets. The President has signaled that the Section 301 tariffs may be imposed on all Chinese imports to the United States, which will trigger retaliatory tariffs from China. All U.S. exports and energy investments in China will suffer, and American consumers and American workers will have to bear the ultimate burden.

Our industry will also face retaliation from China. China has announced additional tariffs on U.S. crude oil and is considering tariffs on some refined products. China accounts for about 20% of all U.S. crude oil exports, but could easily turn to other countries, such as Iran, Russia and other U.S. competitors.

The United States appears to be moving away from a free trade system and instead seeking managed trade, in which all U.S. trade and investment relationships are negotiated bilaterally. The lack of transparency and inadequate consultation in the policymaking process is particularly harmful to U.S. investment, employment and consumption.

The tariff list will be the nail in the coffin

Speaker: Jane Hardy, CEO of Brinly-Hardy Company

We are a family business. Our company manufactures residential and commercial lawn and landscaping equipment, and most recently residential heating equipment, with 200 employees in Indiana. My company originated in 1839, and we have worked hard for 179 years to change and survive. We have survived wars, depressions and recessions, but I don¡¯t think we can survive the latest tariff actions.

Our steel contract expired in April, and with it the announcement of Section 232 tariffs in April of this year; our suppliers have increased their prices to us by 25%-37%, which has hit us hard. Our suppliers have not recently, nor will they plan to reduce their prices in the future. We are not a large enough company to resist these price increases, and we will not pass on price increases to our buyers.

We source our products from suppliers in the United States and many other countries, but primarily from China. Our products are not high-tech, and we select our suppliers based on our design requirements and to remain competitive. Now, many of the parts we need are on the Section 301 tariff list that went into effect on July 6, and our components sourced in the United States and Asia have been affected, with costs increasing by at least 25%.

We recently redesigned and improved our product line, investing over $400,000 in tooling, and our products are high-end brands in the industry. If we raise prices to offset the 25% tariff, we will not be able to sell our products, and thousands of contractors will be affected.

This product is important to us. The tariff list will be the nail in our coffin. We have to make massive layoffs and pay cuts.

Long-standing markets may be gone forever

Speaker: Kevin Cramer, North Dakota

I represent North Dakota agricultural producers and manufacturers who are already feeling the direct impact of China's retaliatory tariffs. China retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. goods, including a 25% import tariff on U.S. soybeans.

North Dakota is one of the top ten soybean-growing states, with about 6.6 million acres planted this year, a record for the state, and more acres planted than corn for the first time in history. Earlier this month, Chinese merchants canceled all firm orders for professional food-grade soybeans in North Dakota, valued at nearly $1.5 million, accounting for 5% of North Dakota's annual orders for professional food-grade soybeans.

Since April of this year, soybean prices have fallen nearly 17%. If this trend continues, they will fall below cost price. In August, soybeans were only about $8.47 per bushel. As soybean prices fell, corn prices also fell, down nearly 6% from the same period last year. The economic cycle of agriculture is one year.

There are no viable transportation routes for North Dakota commodities to markets outside the Pacific Northwest. Transportation obstacles may affect the price basis of soybeans. There is widespread concern that long-standing markets may be gone forever. In agriculture, a bad year may mean the end of many producers' careers.

Threat to Thousands of Employees

Speaker: Richard Baillie, Chairman of Baillie Advanced Materials

The impact of tariffs on China's fluoropolymer industry will be devastating, hurting our competitiveness, reducing employment and deteriorating investment. Fluoropolymers are essential to our economy as components of a range of domestic products including medical implants, cookware, semiconductors, military and aerospace applications. If tariffs are imposed on these products, it will cause serious and irreparable damage to the U.S. fluoropolymer industry, and many American companies will be hurt.

There are over 4,000 of these companies in the U.S., employing tens of thousands of people. Our industry employs highly skilled workers, including thousands of machinists, who are dedicated to producing PTFE. Our industry sells billions of dollars of fluoropolymers, which are converted into tens of billions of dollars of products that are vital to the U.S. economy.

The fluoropolymer industry faces a global supply shortage, the U.S. is not self-sufficient, and Chinese producers cannot meet our needs. The U.S. fluoropolymer industry is growing. The proposed tariffs would threaten tens of thousands of employees.

Damage to company competitiveness and self-improvement

Speaker: Greg Merritt, Vice President, Cree Corporation

Cree is a leading U.S. company that produces power semiconductors used in electric vehicle charging, solar inverters, energy storage, computing, and industrial energy. Investing $1.3 billion in research and development over the past 10 years has enabled us to obtain more than 2,200 U.S. patents.

Power semiconductors are a very complex high-tech process. The process involves the manufacture of hundreds of semiconductors, which takes 6 to 20 weeks.

Silicon carbide technology is not yet mature in China. Our goal is to maintain the United States' technological advantage in these areas. Anything that reduces our company's investment and continued growth will result in Chinese manufacturers entering the market and gaining momentum.

Like many American semiconductor companies, our company exports our finished products to China and completes the final packaging process in China. Semiconductors are packaged in China, which is a very small value-added operation. After packaging, 45% of our products exported to China are sold all over the world. Therefore, the imposition of tariffs will make it very likely that American consumers will not buy our power semiconductors, and the loss of sales will damage the company's ability to expand its competitiveness in the market and improve its products. This will provide opportunities for Chinese companies to enter the world market. We believe that this will greatly harm our economic interests.

The cost will be passed on to American consumers

Speaker: Stefan Brodie, Chairman and CEO of Purolite Corporation

Our company is one of only two companies in the United States that manufactures ion exchange resins. There is currently a severe shortage of ion exchange resins worldwide. We do not expect this shortage to improve in the near future, nor is it realistic for new producers to emerge in the short term. This industry requires tens of millions of dollars and many years to obtain licenses, build and operate new plants.

The imposition of tariffs will further reduce the supply of such products in the United States and China, and American consumers may have to pay higher prices, while the pollution level of drinking water, food supply chain, wastewater treatment, chemicals, etc. will increase. More importantly, this further shortage in the United States and China means that many contaminants in drinking water may not be economically treated, resulting in higher levels of these contaminants in consumers' bodies, and even a repeat of the water pollution incident in Flint.

The industry's total sales worldwide are only $1 billion, and imports from China do not exceed $100 million; with such a small scale, the Chinese government has never regarded it as a strategic priority to surpass technology or manufacturing.

6,000 jobs at risk

Speaker: Mike Gray, Senior Vice President of Valmet North America Capital Operations

Valmet is a global leader in the pulp, paper and energy industries. We have 15 branches in the United States, employing 1,200 American workers and paying taxes to local communities. The current tariff policy forces us to adjust our supply chain, which will increase the cost of papermaking and ultimately the price of paper. This will reduce customer demand for our products, affecting American workers and our income.

We employ thousands of American workers every year to assemble our equipment or to perform maintenance and after-sales work. According to statistics, the current tariff policy will cause 6,000 direct or indirect jobs at risk; Valmet's income will also decrease, and the investment rate in the United States and the US tax revenue will be reduced accordingly.

This series of effects will not be offset by the increase in Chinese production. The United States has not produced such products for 15 to 20 years, and the United States currently does not have a large enough factory to manufacture the machines we need. If production in China and the United States really restarts, it will take many years to rebuild factories and equipment.

It will eventually burden American families

Speaker: Hun Quach, Vice President of International Trade, National Retail Association

The National Retail Association represents a group of the world's largest and most dynamic retail companies, which generate $1.5 trillion in annual revenue and millions of American jobs. We support the government's actions to require China to respect intellectual property rights, but the scope of the tariffs is too broad, many of which do not involve trade violations, and this will only increase prices.

The 301 retaliatory tariffs will only harm the interests of the US economy, including tens of millions of American families. So we hope to remove 45 tariff items. Otherwise, many American products will suffer. The 25% tariff will eventually burden American families, especially middle- and low-income families. The government needs to ensure that daily necessities are excluded from the list of tariffs to avoid burdening American families.

When can negotiations begin?

Speaker: Craig Updyke, Director of Trade and Commercial Affairs, National Electrical Manufacturers Association

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association represents nearly 350 manufacturers of electrical equipment and medical imaging equipment, which have more than 7,000 factories in the United States and provide 360,000 jobs. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association believes that a more level playing field should be ensured between China and the United States through clearer, binding and enforceable trade rules and compliance with international intellectual property protection norms.

Some member companies of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association have factories in China to produce their own products, and many companies purchase finished products and components from partners in China. In particular, many companies purchase components from China to the United States to support their manufacturing operations in China. The 25% tariff implemented on July 6 affects approximately 100 products that are within or close to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association's manufacturing scope.

Imposing equal tariffs on 25 products within the National Electrical Manufacturers Association's scope will seriously harm the global competitiveness of our industry, including the manufacturing operations and employment base of related companies. The 25% tariff, if implemented as proposed, would mean at least $500 million in additional taxes on U.S. electronics companies and their customers. Broad-based tariffs would come with collateral damage to global supply chains and are best avoided.

If authorities deem tariffs necessary, we hope they are narrower than suggested and only last for a short time. If tariffs are designed to get China to negotiate, our industry is asking when negotiations can begin.

(Compiled by Zhang Hong, Shen Mengzhe, Song Shuang, Hu Jiefei, Liu Ling, Wang Qing, Kang Pu, Wu Xuhuai, Yao Kaihong, Sun Meng, Wei Xuewei, Liang Yi, Xu Shichao, Tan Shiwen, Liu Shan, Cai Ruizhi, Yao Bin, Wu Lian, Wang Leyang, originally published in the People's Daily Overseas Edition)

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