{"id":18937,"date":"2017-12-22T11:05:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T16:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=18937"},"modified":"2017-12-22T11:07:42","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T16:07:42","slug":"washing-machine-tariffs-will-hurt-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/12\/22\/washing-machine-tariffs-will-hurt-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Washing Machine Tariffs Will Hurt Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The International Trade Commission recently announced\u00a0recommendations<\/a>\u00a0for the U.S. to impose tariffs of up to 50 percent on washing machine imports exceeding a quota of 1.2 million units annually.<\/p>\n

The recommendation has been passed along to President Donald Trump, giving him 60 days to reach a final decision.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0comes on the heels of the trade commission-backed claim that foreign competitors, Samsung and LG, are \u201cinjuring\u201d the domestic washing machine\u2014specifically, Michigan-based manufacturer Whirlpool.<\/p>\n

If Trump decides to take the commission\u2019s recommendation, Americans will quickly begin to see fewer washing machine options and higher prices on the common household appliance.<\/p>\n

The protectionist move against LG and Samsung comes, perversely, just as those companies are\u00a0set to employ<\/a>\u00a0thousands of Americans in Tennessee and South Carolina.<\/p>\n

It may also inadvertently put the final nail in the coffin of one of the longest-standing bastions of the American service industry, Sears Holdings Corp. For more than a century, Sears has employed thousands of Americans, and despite recent store closures, still\u00a0employs<\/a>\u00a0roughly 140,000 people in the U.S. today, with more than 6,000 of those employees in service technician roles for home warranties on appliance products.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to move in the direction of modern and\u00a0high-tech washing machines<\/a>, Sears recently awarded a contract to LG for the production of some of Sears\u2019 own Kenmore brand of washers. The washers were previously supplied by Whirlpool. Disagreements over cost contributed to the change of suppliers.<\/p>\n

Making it more expensive for LG to import the washers it produces for Kenmore, one of Sears\u2019 most popular product lines, will jeopardize the retailer\u2019s efforts to revitalize its brand.<\/p>\n

American trade rules should make the process of buying and selling easier, not more difficult.<\/p>\n

Restricting washer imports may help Whirlpool but will hurt other American companies\u2014and American consumers as well.<\/p>\n

Trump should reject the remedy proposal put forth by the International Trade Commission. Doing so would keep the government\u2019s thumb off the scale in the washer industry and allow consumers to purchase the products they prefer at the best prices possible.<\/p>\n

Reprinted from The Daily Signal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n


\nLogan Kolas
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Logan Kolas is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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