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               Congressional
             aResearch Service






Escalating U.S. Tariffs: Affected Trade



Updated June 21, 2019
The trade practices of U.S. trading partners and the U.S. trade deficit are a focus of the Trump
Administration. Citing these and other concerns, the President has imposed tariff increases under three
U.S. laws:
    *  (1) Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 on U.S. imports of washing machines and solar
       products;
    *  (2) Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on U.S. imports of steel and
       aluminum,  and potentially motor vehicles and parts, uranium, and titanium sponge; and
    *  (3) Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on U.S. imports from China.
In response to concerns over immigration, the President also recently proposed an additional 5% tariff on
imports from Mexico under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), but
subsequently suspended the proposed tariffs indefinitely citing an agreement reached with Mexico. For a
timeline of recent actions, see CRS Insight IN10943, Escalating US. Tariffs: Timeline. The
Administration has stated that it is using existing and proposed tariffs for a range of purposes, including
as leverage for broader trade negotiations with affected trading partners, such as Japan and the European
Union (EU), and, as noted, to influence Mexico's immigration policies.
The multiple tariff increases applied to date, ranging from 10% to 45%, affect approximately 10% of U.S.
annual imports. This amounts to $267.5 billion of imports using 2018 annual data, but it should be noted
that tariffs went into effect at various times in 2018 and 2019 (Figure 1). While the Administration has
taken some steps to reduce the scale of imports affected by the tariffs (i.e., by exempting Canada and
Mexico  from the steel and aluminum duties and creating processes by which certain products may be
excluded), the general trend is an escalation of tariff actions.
The Administration has increased tariffs by 25% on roughly $250 billion of imports from China and has
proposed a 25% tariff increase on the remaining roughly $300 billion (with some exceptions). In addition,
President Trump declared U.S. motor vehicle imports a national security threat, particularly from the EU
and Japan, granting him authority to impose tariff increases on such imports. The President also proposed
an additional 5% to 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico (now indefinitely suspended). In total, these
actions would potentially affect over $1 trillion of U.S. imports, or 40% of the annual total. While tariffs
may benefit a limited number of import-competing firms, they also increase costs for downstream users of
imported products (e.g., Ford estimates the metal tariffs cost the firm nearly $1 billion) and consumers

                                                                  Congressional Research Service
                                                                    https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                        IN10971

CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

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