WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) is urging Congress to create an exclusion process for 301 tariffs as the House and Senate come together to reconcile the differences between the United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) and the America Creating Opportunities, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act.
“American manufacturing must be able to effectively compete with everyone, including China. With a Section 301 tariff exclusion process, American manufacturers will be better positioned to obtain the materials they need for production. As the conference committee coalesces to improve USICA and the COMPETES Act, I strongly urge its members to prioritize the reestablishment of this exclusion process. Failure to allow this remedy will harm our own manufacturers, disadvantaging these companies relative to foreign competitors at a time when we should be enabling their success,” said Toomey.
Senator Toomey offered a motion to instruct (MTI) this week, which recommends the conference committee reestablish an exclusion process for 301 tariffs as part of the consolidated legislation. MTIs serve as nonbinding recommendations for the conference committee.
The prior administration created a Section 301 tariff exclusion process, which allowed American manufacturers to apply for temporary tariff relief on imported components which they were unable to procure from alternate sources. The Biden Administration has thus far failed to fully reinstate this exclusion process, which has resulted in many American manufacturers being unduly burdened by the tariffs even on inputs with no viable domestic source.
When the Senate considered USICA, Senators Wyden and Crapo introduced an amendment that, among other things, would reestablish the Section 301 exclusion process. This amendment passed the Senate 91-4 with strong bipartisan support; yet, the House failed to include the 301 exclusion process in their own version of the bill.
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