The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the Trump administration to instantly implement a “tariff exclusion course of” in an effort to preserve the U.S. economic system from falling right into a recession and inflicting “irreparable hurt” on small companies.
In a letter first obtained by CNBC, the huge enterprise lobbying group requested key Trump commerce officers to routinely raise tariffs on all small enterprise importers and on all merchandise that “can’t be produced within the U.S.” or usually are not domestically out there.
The letter from the Chamber’s CEO, Suzanne Clark, additionally requested the Trump administration to determine a course of for companies to shortly get hold of tariff exclusions if they will show that import duties pose “vital dangers to U.S. employment.”
“We’re deeply involved that even when it solely takes weeks or months to achieve agreements, many small companies will endure irreparable hurt,” Clark wrote within the letter despatched late Wednesday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer.
“The Chamber requests the administration take quick actions to avoid wasting America’s small companies and stave off a recession,” she wrote.
In an interview Thursday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Avenue,” Clark stated she penned the White Home as a result of “we have been simply getting inundated by small enterprise requests for info, for aid.”
These enterprise house owners are “afraid for the very survival of their enterprise,” she stated.
Clark additionally defined why the Chamber is opting to not problem Trump’s tariffs in court docket — as others have accomplished — though her group had sued the Biden administration greater than 20 occasions.
“We do fear about authorities overreach” and “micromanagement,” she stated. “However on this case, the courts take a very long time. And what small enterprise wants, what all enterprise wants, is extra quick aid.”
Requested in a press briefing if the Trump administration is contemplating the Chamber’s request for tariff exemptions, White Home deputy chief of employees Stephen Miller steered it’s not.
“The aid for small companies goes to come back within the type of the most important tax minimize in American historical past,” he stated, referring to Republicans’ plan to cross a serious tax minimize invoice this 12 months.
Miller additionally stated that President Donald Trump has “made clear” that corporations that put money into the U.S. will face no legal responsibility from tariffs.
Pressed to make clear that he was rejecting the concept of short-term tariff aid for small companies, Miller stated, “It is a sure on tax aid for small companies. And once more, you solely pay the tariff for merchandise which might be made exterior america.”
Learn the complete letter right here.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this report.
Correction: Stephen Miller is White Home deputy chief of employees. An earlier model misspelled his title.
