The following statement is attributed to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®:
"The tariff delay on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods is welcome news for American businesses and consumers – but a one-step-forward, two-steps-back approach means U.S. businesses will continue to struggle under the burden of tariffs and uncertainty in supply chains. American businesses thrive when they can dedicate their time and resources to innovating and competing globally, not checking Twitter for trade policy updates and combing through HTS codes to find which products are facing higher taxes. We're encouraged by the progress from today's round of trade talks and hope that President Trump will stop using tariffs as a weapon during this Phase 1 agreement.”
In August, U.S. consumer tech paid an additional $1.8 billion in tariffs, including over $124 million in tariffs on products critical to 5G deployment according to new data from CTA, compiled and analyzed by The Trade Partnership. Since July 2018, Section 301 tariffs on China have cost the U.S. consumer technology sector almost $14 billion, including over $1.3 billion on 5G-related products alone.