It’s taken weeks of calls and letters to the Trump administration to get a response over potential tariff reductions as the coronavirus outbreak threatened to snuff out countless small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses.

American companies, and importers in particular, on Wednesday once again pleaded with President Donald Trump to allow for tariff relief to ease the dire economic situation.

According to one estimate, suspending the duties he’s imposed on Chinese goods and global steel and aluminum imports would provide a boost to the U.S. economy of more than $75 billion, or 0.4 percent of U.S. GDP, Americans for Free Trade wrote in their letter.

For weeks the administration’s response was noncommittal. And suddenly, they got their answer.

“There’s no reason to do that. I can’t imagine Americans asking for that,” Trump said on Wednesday, again falsely claiming that China pays the tariff bills.

The debate over tariff reductions — tax cuts, in effect — has been playing out among Trump advisers and outside allies, with opponents of the move making their case known to the White House as well. The calls have intensified in the crisis because Trump has the authority cut tariffs pretty much immediately.

Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society and former trade official, said the increasingly heated rhetoric and barbs exchanged between U.S. and Chinese officials in recent days are “unhelpful and frankly irresponsible.”

“Now is the time for the U.S. and China to work together to help the rest of the world navigate through this crisis,” she said. “Rolling back tariffs would be a good first step.”

And whether the administration wants to admit it or not, the U.S. still imports from China a lot of the equipment and supplies needed to respond to this public health crisis. The numerous exemptions that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office has recently granted seems to be a recognition of that fact.

Source: Bloomberg