CPA member companies and organizations had this to say about the section 301 tariffs announced by the White House today.
Roddey Dowd, Jr., CEO, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Co.: Our company has been the victim of intellectual property theft. A company in China markets our products throughout Asia using our logo. Charlotte Pipe strongly supports the Trump administration’s tariff action to fight back.
Bill Toler, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Global Brass and Copper Holdings, and Devin Denner, CEO, Chase Brass and Copper Co.: As China takes over the manufacturing of finished products through technology theft, subsidies and their China 2025 program, our companies’ ability to grow, increase wages and gain market share is endangered. We welcome this strong action by the president and hope for more action in the future.
George Boyd, Jr., Vice President and General Counsel, Goldens’ Foundry & Machine Co.: We service a diverse set of manufacturers, with products ranging from medical equipment to electrical generators. We are concerned by China’s theft of advanced technologies which is now impacting a wide array of US industries. My company is pleased with the president’s section 301 tariff actions announced today.
Joel Ross, CEO, Universal Electric: My company makes innovative electrical power distribution products. Last year we discovered that a Chinese company copied key electrical components designed by our engineering team. They are selling these products in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. It is long past time that the US government stands up for our domestic manufacturers.
Earl Cunningham, President and CEO, Eklind Tool: China’s predatory trade practices and intellectual property theft endanger the future of the US machinery and advanced manufacturing industries, which are major consumers of our hand tool products. My company strongly supports the administration’s Section 301 tariffs as the next step towards covering the broader manufacturing supply chain against predation. More comprehensive actions, including tariffs on all steel based products, are necessary in the near future.
Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA: My organization represents cattle producers across the country. Our industry has been harmed by trade cheating and trade deficits due in part to subsidized imports and lack of country of origin labeling. We support the president’s actions on China technology theft as well as a future comprehensive strategy to increase domestic producers’ market share of the US market.
Zach Mottl, Chief Alignment Officer, Atlas Tool Works: Due to predatory trade from China, including forced technology transfer, subsidies, and intellectual property theft, my company has been harmed as the telecommunications and internet industry largely left the US. Because we supplied that industry for nearly 90 years, we were forced to cut our workforce in half and suffered through years of financial losses when the entire supply chain was suddenly moved to China. We commend the Trump administration for tackling this issue and defending America’s high-tech sectors. I hope we will see telecom and internet switches and routers made in the USA again, with tariffs helping to level the playing field in favor of domestic production.
Daniel Patrick McGahn, CEO, AMSC: Chinese intellectual property theft dramatically changed our business and impacted more than 700 families. We lost more than 70% of our revenues and reduced our labor force and our physical footprint by 70%. Our situation has yielded criminal convictions in Austria and America. We have had to be resilient as a Company and have turned our focus to enhancing the resilience of the American Naval Fleet and the American Electrical Grid. We support actions that attach consequences to bad Chinese behavior. The estimates of the value of American intellectual property stolen annually are larger than total amount of annual trade between the China and the United States. We need to protect American companies from future theft and find a path to restitution for the victims of past theft. Intellectual property theft will dramatically change our way of life, our standard of living, for this generation and the next.
Greg Owens, CEO, Liberty Tabletop: My company is the only US manufacturer of flatware. Our community was devastated when flatware manufacturer Oneida closed and moved to China. Twenty five hundred jobs were lost. We purchased the facility and restarted flatware production. China’s industrial subsidies create severe challenges for growing our business. We support the administration’s 301 tariffs for China’s technology theft and encourage further action to protect America’s manufacturers and agricultural producers from predatory trade practices.
