Industry Pushes For Tariff Suspensions

The chemical industry is urging Congress to move forward with legislation that would temporarily suspend duties on a variety of imported industrial chemicals and other products. Chemical company executives stressed the need to pass a miscellaneous tariff bill earlier this month in meetings with lawmakers and congressional staffers organized by the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA), an industry trade group. Miscellaneous tariff bills typically contain hundreds of provisions suspending tariffs on imported goods that are important to U.S. manufacturers but are no longer produced in the U.S. The last such bill, which Congress passed in 2010, is set to expire at the end of the year. Without an extension, “manufacturers of all sizes across the country will face higher tariffs on inputs not otherwise available in the U.S.,” says Justine Freisleben, a government relations manager at SOCMA. Some Republicans say the legislation violates their party’s self-imposed moratorium on earmarks—spending that benefits a narrow special interest. But advocates argue that the duty suspension process is available to all manufacturers and benefits job creation in the U.S.