The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has joined more than 170 agricultural associations and businesses in urging Congress to require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reinvigorate the exclusion process for products subject to additional tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, reports ILM.

The coalition, Americans for Free Trade (AFT), sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) expressing support for amending the America COMPETES Act of 2022 to include language requiring the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to reinvigorate the exclusion process for products subject to additional tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

A statement from the AFT said: “While we continue calling for an end to the trade war and elimination of the additional tariffs on U.S. companies as well as China’s retaliatory tariffs, we believe reinstituting the section 301 exclusion process is critical to helping U.S. businesses.

“According to a recent Moody’s Investor Service Report, the tariffs ‘hit American businesses and consumers hardest,’ with China absorbing only 7.6% of the tariffs ‘while the rest of the tab was picked up by Americans.’ A new, transparent, and fair exclusions process would help alleviate the economic burden on American businesses and consumers.”