Jun 18, 2018 Business Associations Joint Letter to Bicameral Committee Leaders Supporting Greater Congressional Oversight of U.S. Trade Policy and the Implementation of Tariffs and Quotas on Imported Products
Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members: The undersigned organizations represent a broad array of U.S. manufacturers, retailers, technology companies, farmers and agribusinesses and other supply chain stakeholders. We are writing to express our deep and increasing concern with the direction of America’s trade policy. In particular, we see the growing willingness of the current Administration to use tariffs (and the related use of absolute import quotas) as a major policy tool in an increasing number of trade disputes with our allies as a trend that needs to be addressed by Congress. There are valid reasons for Congress to have delegated significant authority to the President in order to address unfair trade practices and liberalize world trade. However, this extensive unilateral use of tariffs by the Executive Branch is upsetting the historic balance between Congressional and Executive powers, which has worked effectively for many decades to strengthen our economy and grow export opportunities for American manufacturers, service providers, ranchers and farmers, and needs to be reassessed.
