American Petroleum Institute criticizes US tariffs on China

Leadership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) expressed concerns last week with the impact on the U.S. energy market of the Trump Administration’s recently announced tariffs on China.

The Administration recently said the United States would impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China containing industrially significant technology.

“API is concerned about the detrimental effect of the new Section 301 tariffs on a wide range of industrial parts and products used in the U.S. natural gas and oil industry because they place the costs of China’s market distorting behavior on U.S. consumers and their access to affordable and reliable energy,” API President and CEO Jack Gerard said. “We have very vocally opposed the implementation of Section 232 tariffs under the guise of national security concerns, and we are now also troubled with the Administration’s process around the implementation of Section 301 tariffs on China.”

Gerard said he is also concerned about the lack of transparency on the proposed tariffs.

“The lack of transparency in the process, as well as the absence of consultation with the U.S. natural gas and oil industry to determine the potential impact on U.S. investments, jobs, and consumers, is especially troubling,” Gerard added. “Section 301 tariffs, as well as the recently implemented Section 232 tariffs, will have a real impact on current and future U.S. energy projects, and could ultimately harm our energy renaissance which provides high-paying jobs and affordable and reliable energy to Americans.”

China responded to the tariffs by imposing a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of U.S. imports including soybeans, orange juice, cigars, electric cars, salmon, and more than 500 other products.

“Instead of utilizing a transparent decision-making process that provided room for input from key stakeholders, the administration continues to take serious missteps in the trade arena that could undermine American jobs and America’s role on the global energy stage,” Gerard said. “Trade wars with key trading partners will be detrimental to the U.S. economy and consumers.”