NEW YORK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Bras, toys and children's books -- a spectacular parade of everyday objects as U.S. business owners take turns to spotlight the unparalleled merits of Chinese merchandise in their testimony against 300-billion-U.S.-dollar additional tariffs this week in Washington. The Trump administration's fondness to weaponize tariffs, however, risks reducing the bigger and lengthier hearing to yet another formality.
It is the fourth such hearing in a little over a year, and "third time lucky" has already failed them. When industries whipsawed by uncertainty came to say no to raising additional tariffs on 200 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports in a six-day hearing last August, the U.S. government went ahead with the tariffs anyway regardless of an over 90 percent opposition.
Landslide opposition was seen in two prior hearings in May and July last year for a combined 50 billion dollars tariffs, but unsurprisingly failed to save the day.
As the business owners and industry association representatives appear in the U.S. International Trade Commission Building starting Monday for the week-long hearing on proposed China tariffs tranche 4, their sense of desperation in fighting a losing battle should surprise no one.
Too much is at stake. The 300 billion dollars cover the remaining of all U.S. imports of Chinese goods, and virtually no one in the United States will be left unscathed, even those exempted previously on account of being basic consumer goods.
"It's a scary prospect," Jamie Fiocco, president of American Booksellers Association said in her testimony. U.S. publishers believe there is no other viable alternative to China when it comes to color printing of children's books in high quality and at low prices.
Most are bracing for another disappointment as their concerns are likely to be ignored again in this week's hearing, according to a New York Times report.
"This is all kind of a circus," Jean Kolloff, president of Quinn Apparel, which makes clothes and cashmere sweaters in China, was quoted as saying.
While the U.S. business community is making a passionate case against the tariffs, what emerges as equally passionate is the administration's wish to use tariffs as a tool to force trading partners to capitulate. Past experience does not portend that the politicians are going to back down this time.
However ugly a moment now seems to be, it may well be a sobering moment for all, especially when one considers that the Trump administration has arrived at the point of having to fight with tariffs even on products that directly affect the daily life of the American general public.
Firstly, the latest tariffs belie some politicians' claims that trade wars are easy to win. The contrary is true: the trade war is protracted, and the United States has still yet to declare itself a winner.
Instead of sitting down for an honest consultation with China, the United States has repeatedly resorted to tariffs, with the aim of exerting the so-called "maximum pressure." Their game of tariffs has only impeded trade disputes settlement while burning an increasing number of the U.S. businesses and consumers.
In the first few days of the hearing, representatives have once again testified that moving supply chains out of China to elsewhere is impossible if the competitive edge of efficiency, high quality and affordable price is to be maintained. The firsthand experience of these businessmen has yet to sink into the closed ears of the U.S. policymakers.
Secondly, the latest imposition of tariffs lays bare the fact that the Trump administration's use of tariff baton may not be for economic purposes only. For a president whose mantra is to make America great again and who prides himself on his business acumen, a blithe disregard of concerns of its own ordinary people and the risk of U.S.-China ties derailing makes his promises sound hollow.
Unhesitatingly making the over 500 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports a cannon fodder in a questionable trade war seems more like a ploy of U.S. far-right politicians aimed specifically at decoupling U.S.-China economies and containing China's development.
The standoff with China "cuts to the core of what the United States is going to be in the future," former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said last month.
In a scenario when the world's two largest economies lose the ballast stone of economic and trade relations and confrontation becomes the order of the day, a Pandora's box will be opened and everyone stands to lose.
Thirdly, the U.S. businesses and consumers will end up being the victims of the Trump administration's misguided policies.
"If there's a better idea than tariffs I'd like to hear it. I haven't heard it," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Senate Finance Committee at a congress hearing parallel to the one held by his office. "What we are facing is worth having some discomfort."
"Discomfort" is a gross understatement. Financial gurus and research reports have shown that tariffs on China will be paid by the U.S. consumers themselves in a big way.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that existing tariffs on Chinese imports cost U.S. families about 550 dollars, a sum that will rise to 2,200 dollars if 25 percent tariffs on 500 billion dollars of Chinese imports become a reality.
A study by the anti-tariff campaign Tariffs Hurt the Heartland said additional tariffs would result in the loss of 2 million U.S. jobs and the reduction of 1 percent of gross domestic product. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has forecast a 1 trillion dollars loss if the trade war continues for a decade.
Yet U.S. policymakers don't seem to care and are expecting its citizens to resign to an unsavory situation that could very well be avoided in the first place. Senator Tom Cotton raised eyebrows recently by saying that the sacrifices by American farmers who could suffer due to U.S. trade war with China are "pretty minimal compared to the sacrifices that our soldiers make overseas."
As the U.S. businesses try to defend their interests this week in Washington, they may be fully aware that their efforts are likely to be fruitless if the hearing, like those previous ones, turns out to be just another sham.
"It's easy to be tough when someone else is feeling the pain," said former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, commenting on Trump's trade policy. It is the U.S. industries and consumers who bear the brunt of the costs as the policymakers go headlong with their dangerous tariffs game.
Here's a caveat: if the additional 300 billion dollars tariffs were implemented, American people's daily life would receive such a tremendous impact that their anger and discontent may in turn inflict wounds on those tariffs game players.
