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NEW YORK: Major automakers Tesla, Volvo, Ford and Mercedes Benz have sued the US government over tariffs on Chinese products, demanding that customs duties paid on imports be returned, with interest.
The lawsuits were filed in recent days at the New York-based Court of International Trade and concern tariffs imposed by the United States Trade Representative on imports from China, which Tesla in its filing called “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion “.
The tariffs came amid a broader trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, with automakers calling for the tariffs to be lifted and for money paid to import parts to be returned.
In her presentation, Mercedes accused Washington of “prosecuting an unprecedented, limitless and limitless trade war impacting more than $ 500 billion in imports from the People’s Republic of China”, and argued that US law “did not confer authority to the defendants to litigate a vast trade war for whatever time and by whatever means they choose. “
The administration of US President Donald Trump faced months of trade conflicts with China and imposed the levies as part of an effort to alienate US manufacturers from Chinese technology.
China and the US signed their “phase one” trade deal earlier this year that partially ended the dispute, under which China promised to buy $ 200 billion in US goods and Washington retracted tariffs on $ 160 billion in Chinese goods, particularly consumer electronics. .
The United States also cut 15 percent tariffs in half on $ 120 billion in goods, but kept 25 percent tariffs on $ 250 billion in imports, which some of the automakers cited in their lawsuits.
Beijing has retaliated for these levies, while Washington aims both to reduce its trade deficit and to reform Chinese trade practices it considers “unfair.”
The Commerce Department reported that the United States’ trade deficit in July increased almost 11 percent to $ 63.6 billion, and the deficit with China increased to $ 28.3 billion.
