SIA Testifies on Impact of Proposed 301 Tariffs on U.S. IT Industry

by Semiconductor Industry Association

This week, SIA testified before the International Trade Commission (ITC) on the Administration’s proposed fourth tranche of tariffs on $300 billion in trade with China as part of the Section 301 investigation into China’s unfair acts, policies, and practices. If implemented, the proposed fourth round of tariffs will encompass virtually all information technology products, including laptops, cellphones, solid state drives, video game consoles, printers, televisions, displays, and more. As SIA stated in testimony, tariffs on key consumer IT products will have potentially crippling economic consequences:

“IT firms make up a significant sector of the U.S. economy, and any slowdown in this sector will have a ripple effect through a broad range of other industries, greatly impacting U.S. economic growth. There is no scenario in which tariffs on IT products is positive for the U.S. economy. To avoid inevitable harm to U.S. consumers, employment, economic growth, IT industries, productivity and technology leadership, we request that the U.S. administration remove key consumer IT products from the proposed tariff list.”

SIA strongly supports the Administration’s goal to address discriminatory and burdensome trade practices of the Chinese government. However, tariffs are an ill-equipped tool to address the problematic Chinese forced tech transfer and IP theft activities that were the subject of the 301 investigation.