Business alarmed as Trump administration refuses exemptions for China tariffs

BThey are expressing the alarm that the White House is China's tariffs, which cover $ 200 billion worth of goods. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office has yet to create a process for requesting exclusions to the levies, a contrast to previous rounds of tariffs.

"USTR has not issued a formal notice for an exemption process for list 3 [of tariffs] "Christin Fernandez, spokeswoman for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told the president," said Christin Fernandez, spokesperson for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told the Washington Examiner.

Members of Congress are responding with alarm. A letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer being circulated among lawmakers by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., Usually a critic of the free-trade policies, urges the administration to restore the process.

"These stakeholders … deserve the chance to make their case to USTR regarding the same issues presented to those affected by the first two sets of tariffs," the letter says. It currently has 50 cosigners, according to Pascrell's spokesman, and is expected to be sent to the USTR this week. A bipartisan group of 169 House and Senate lawmakers made a similar plea in a letter to Lighthimer.

A spokesperson for the trade representative office decline to comment.

President Trump $ 200 billion worth of Chinese goods last month, putting the total amount of goods covered by tariffs at $ 250 billion. The White House had previously hit $ 16 billion and $ 34 billion worth of goods with tariffs. The deadline for requesting exclusions for the $ 34 billion round of tariffs expired on Oct. 9.

The lack of a similar process for the current round The current round of tariffs on China's goods are just 10 percent, but they will increase to 25 percent at the beginning of next year.

Lawmakers and business groups see the lack of exclusions as a precedent. The White House has an additional $ 267 billion worth of Chinese goods with tariffs. That would be enough to cover all remaining imports into the U.S.

The White House has been shown to be more flexible regarding its steel and aluminum tariffs, providing approximately 1-in-5 requests for exclusions. However, the steel and aluminum tariffs are excluded by the Commerce Department, a separate agency from the USTR. A spokesperson for the department said the exclusions to the China tariffs were exclusively up to the USTR.