Have Trump’s Tariffs Gone as High as They Can Go? Business Hope So - The New York Times
A wave of companies are petitioning for exemptions from the Trump administration’s high levies on foreign-made goods, saying they are hurting business and raising prices.
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Have Trump’s Tariffs Hit the ‘High-Water Mark’?
A wave of companies are petitioning for exemptions from the Trump administration’s high levies on foreign-made goods, saying they are hurting business and raising prices.
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Before President Trump’s tariffs took effect this year, the Chicken of the Sea factory in Lyons, Ga., was running its production lines full speed, canning enough imported tuna to build up four to six months of inventory in warehouses around the United States.
It was an effort to mitigate the effect of tariffs, and it worked — temporarily. But once the president imposed those high levies globally, the costs of the fish, olive oil and steel cans the factory needs all rose. Production has now slowed, with the factory cutting its operating hours to four days a week instead of five. Chicken of the Sea has sold off all the inventory it had stockpiled before the tariffs. Company executives say that has left them with few options other than raising prices, unless they can secure a tariff reprieve.
“It is squeezing us, and it forces us to really make some tough decisions,” said Andy Mecs, the president of Chicken of the Sea International. “Inevitably, I think you will see some inflation coming if we don’t see some relief pretty soon.”
A move by the Trump administration last month to exempt tariffs on some products not made in the United States, like coffee and bananas, gave Chicken of the Sea and other importers paying tariffs some hope. The company and the Georgia lawmakers that represent its district have argued to White House officials that there should be tariff exemptions for foreign products that have no American substitute, like the frozen tuna that the company imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador and Indonesia. The type of tuna typically used for canning is caught in warm waters around the Equator.
“It’s not like there’s just tuna swimming along in Ohio,” Mr. Mecs said. About tariffs, he added, “I would hope that we have hit the high-water mark, and we’re on the way down.”
Since Mr. Trump’s exemptions, a wave of companies have begun petitioning officials in Washington for similar relief. Businesses that depend on foreign materials — from factories that import machinery to retailers selling artificial Christmas trees — argue that tariffs on their products are simply raising consumer prices and adding to Americans’ dissatisfaction with the economy, rather than encouraging more manufacturing in the United States.
