About 3,500 US companies are litigating against their country’s government for imposing tariffs on more than $300 billion on products made in China.
WASHINGTON D.C. (Expansion) – The World Trade Organization found that the United States violated world trade rules by imposing multi-million dollar tariffs in Trump’s trade war with China.
About 3,500 US companies, including Tesla Inc, Ford Motor Co, Target Corp, Walgreen Co, and Home Depot, have sued the Donald Trump government in the past two weeks over the imposition of tariffs on more than $ 300 billion of products made in China.
The lawsuits, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, named Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the Customs and Border Protection agency, and oppose what they see as an illegal escalation of the U.S. trade war with China. Through the imposition of a third and fourth round of tariffs.
Legal challenges from a wide range of companies contend that the Trump administration failed to impose the tariffs within the required 12-month timeframe and failed to comply with administrative procedures.
The companies challenge the administration’s “unrestricted trade war affecting billions of dollars in goods imported from the People’s Republic of China by importers from the United States,” according to the lawsuit filed by auto parts maker Dana Corp.
The lawsuits challenge the tariffs in two separate groups, known as Schedule 3 and Schedule 4A.
Schedule 3 includes 25% tariffs on some $ 200 billion in imports, while List 4A includes 7.5% tariffs on $ 120 billion in merchandise.
One lawsuit argues that the administration cannot extend the tariffs to other Chinese imports “for reasons unrelated to the unfair intellectual property policies and practices it originally investigated.”
On September 15, the World Trade Organization determined that the United States violated world trade rules by imposing multi-million dollar tariffs in Trump’s trade war with China.
The Trump administration says the tariffs on Chinese goods were justified because China was stealing intellectual property and forcing American companies to transfer technology to access Chinese markets.