Xinhua News Agency, Washington, July 30 (Reporter Gao Pan) The Office of the United States Trade Representative recently held a hearing to discuss tariffs on 16 billion US dollars of Chinese imports to the United States. Delegates at the meeting generally expressed concern that the tariffs would harm the US economy and reduce the competitiveness of US industries.

The Semiconductor Association of America and the Semiconductor Industry Association said at the hearing that the United States accounts for 40 percent of the global market share of semiconductors, runs a semiconductor trade surplus with China, and more than 40 percent of the semiconductor products imported from China are manufactured by US companies or US-funded companies. The main research and development and design of semiconductors are carried out in the United States, and the chips are only assembled in China. The imposition of tariffs will raise the cost of US companies, hinder research and development investment, and damage the leading position of the United States.

The Consumer Technology Association bluntly told questioning officials during the questioning session that changing the source of suppliers is actually an effort by the government to undermine the ability of companies to run their own businesses and will result in the loss of good-paying jobs in the United States.

The US Retail Industry Leadership Association is concerned that the tariffs will affect American families, increase daily costs for dealers, consumers and farmers, and that it will take a long time for consumer goods to move through the supply chain.

A number of associations and business representatives from the US chemical and plastic products, containers, electric bicycles, auto parts manufacturing and other industries said that they can not find suppliers other than China, and the US China supply can not meet the current demand. They pointed out that China is an important source of chemical raw materials and electronic parts, many products are only mass-produced in China, it is difficult to find substitutes, the US Chinese supply can not meet the market demand for a while, even if the adjustment of the supply chain will take a long time. The imposition of tariffs will force US companies to raise prices, pass the burden on to consumers, or even relocate factories overseas, which is not conducive to US companies' participation in international competition.

Many representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States have complained about the serious impact of the tariff increase. Brinley-hardy said that due to the Trump administration's recent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products, and the imposition of tariffs on US $34 billion of Chinese imports on July 6, the 179-year-old family business, which has been passed down for five generations, is facing the threat of closure, and the new tariffs will make the situation worse.

The US Information Technology Industry Council also pointed out that tariffs on Chinese products could lead to disruptions in global supply chains and severely hurt US small businesses, because changing suppliers is especially difficult and costly for small businesses.

Representatives of the participating companies Logitech, Global Electronics, Banner Engineering and Fodiwei, which all have factories in China, said their companies have not experienced forced technology transfer problems in China.

Representatives of Logitech said that the company has not licensed or been required to license any technology transfer to Chinese companies, and has not been forced to transfer intellectual property or technology to Chinese companies. Logitech is also not subject to the relevant administrative licensing or licensing requirements in China as described in the United States Section 301 investigation report.

Representatives of Global Electronics said that US companies have the ability to compete with anyone on a level playing field, and the imposition of tariffs will make it difficult for US high-tech companies like Global Electronics to compete globally. The company representative urged the Trump administration not to impose tariffs, but to work with businesses to implement trade policies that are conducive to American jobs and American companies competing in the global market. Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a US think tank, told Xinhua that imposing tariffs on Chinese products would be counterproductive for the US economy and businesses, as it would raise the cost of imports for US companies and weaken their competitiveness.

A recent study released by the Peterson Institute for International Economics also shows that since the vast majority of the products on the US tariff list against China are intermediate goods and capital equipment, the hardest hit will be US companies that rely on importing parts and components from China to produce goods sold around the world. Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, predicted that many US companies would follow the example of the US Harley-Davidson motorcycle company and relocate some of their factories overseas, which is exactly the price of "bad trade policies".

On June 15, based on the unilateral findings of the Section 301 investigation, the US government announced that it would impose 25 percent import tariffs on 50 billion US dollars of goods originating in China. Among them, the additional tariffs on US $34 billion of Chinese exports to the US were implemented on July 6, and the additional tariffs on US $16 billion of Chinese exports to the US are still subject to public comment.

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