US WANTS LOW TARIFFS FOR EXPORTS BUT SEEKS HIGH DUTY ON IMPORTS

The Trump administration plans to carry on with its confrontational approach to world trade, pressuring other countries to lower their tariffs on US products but making it harder for imports to enter the US duty free, Paul Wiseman wrote for the Associated Press (AP) on June 17, 2020.

In his testimony before Congress Wednesday, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the administration would push for more change at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Geneva-based enforcer of global trade rules that the administration has accused of anti-US bias.

“The WTO is a mess,” Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee. “The WTO has failed America, and it’s failed the international trading system.” Under WTO rules, Lighthizer complained, other countries levy tariffs — import taxes — “far above” the tariffs the US imposes.

Lighthizer’s comments suggest that “he wants to force others to lower their tariffs to our levels, and he will threaten to raise ours to theirs if they do not,” said William Reinsch, a former US trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. But Reinsch noted that the United States agreed to the existing tariffs in past negotiations. If the Trump administration wants to change tariff rates it will face hard choices. To get other countries to lower their tariffs, it will have to negotiate — and make concessions. If the US raises tariffs on its own instead, it will likely face retaliation from its trading partners. “There is no free lunch,” Reinsch said.