From Flamethrowers to Blood, U.S. Tariffs Have Head Scratchers
Flamethrowers, blood and cassette are among items to be targeted under Trump’s Tariff list.
(Bloomberg) -- When you export half a trillion bucks worth of stuff to the U.S., there’s bound to be some unusual items in the mix.
Like flamethrowers. And fetal bovine serum.
Those are some of the hundreds of items on the Trump administration’s proposed list of $50 billion worth of Chinese imports to be targeted for additional 25 percent tariffs. The 45 pages of products were released in Washington Tuesday, with the U.S. Trade Representative’s office allowing about 60 days for public comment and feedback.
That will give American consumers of Chinese hearing aids time to register their concerns. And chain-saw users. Also buyers of "haymaking machinery other than mowers." For good measure, mowers themselves also make the list.
And who knew people still buy cassette players, some two decades after the introduction of MP3 players and almost 10 years after the launch of music-streaming pioneer Spotify? Perhaps oddly, phonograph records make the list, but not players -- you’d think it would be the other way round, with some baby boomers looking for a turntable to play an old vinyl of the White Album.
Bombs, Grenades and Rocket Launchers
The National Rifle Association might have something to say about its members having to pay more for imported rifles and telescopic scopes. But one might hope there are few private users of bombs, grenades and rocket launchers, all of which are on the list.
Of course, there are plenty of plain-vanilla manufactured goods, from engines and machine tools to turbines and combine harvester-threshers. But a casual reader might wonder how many nuclear reactors the U.S. imports every year.
The USTR said the list was compiled after analysts from several U.S. government agencies identified items that "benefit from Chinese industrial policies," after the removal of products judged likely to "cause disruptions to the U.S. economy." Domestic makers of dental fillings will doubtless be pleased their products didn’t qualify for such an exclusion.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Anstey in Tokyo at canstey@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tracy Alloway at talloway@bloomberg.net, Colin Keatinge
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
