Ahead of G-7 Meeting, Freedom Partners, AFP and The LIBRE Initiative Urge President Trump to Promote Trade, Rescind Tariffs

Arlington, VA – In a letter to President Trump released today and in advance of the upcoming G-7 meeting, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and The LIBRE Initiative urged the president to use the meeting “as an opportunity to advance a trade agenda that builds upon your previous tax and regulatory reforms through the elimination of tariffs on steel and aluminum, which have already been damaging to both businesses and industries and our relationships with key trading partners.”

Below is the full text of the letter:

June 5, 2018

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As you prepare to join your G7 counterparts in Quebec later this week, we encourage you to engage them on the importance of trade to improving the economies and the lives of citizens in all our countries. And most importantly, we strongly encourage you to rescind all tariffs on steel and aluminum among our nation’s trading partners.

Mr. President, under your leadership, economic growth and job creation are flourishing. Wages are up and unemployment is down. Joblessness for Hispanics and African Americans is at its lowest level in recorded history. Our country is a better place today to do business and other countries have taken note. The tax cuts and regulatory relief agenda enacted by your administration has played an integral role in these positive developments.

These improvements are having a tremendous impact on the lives and wellbeing of all Americans, especially the less fortunate; but this success will be greatly undermined by the imposition of these new import taxes on working Americans. That is the net effect of tariffs on imported products, which your administration has either implemented or announced.

These tariffs are already having the opposite effect of the 2017 tax cuts, raising prices on consumers and businesses that buy imported goods for consumption or use in production. Tariffs beget more tariffs as our trading partners retaliate. This has certainly been the case as China, the European Union, and our closest neighbors Canada and Mexico have either imposed or threatened retaliatory tariffs in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs. These moves have already hurt American businesses and caused great and unnecessary uncertainty and the pain will likely trickle down to American workers.

Mr. President, we urge your administration to use the G7 as an opportunity to advance a trade agenda that builds upon your previous tax and regulatory reforms through the elimination of tariffs on steel and aluminum, which have already been damaging to both businesses and industries and our relationships with key trading partners.

We stand ready to work with your administration in a constructive way to remove all barriers to free trade and to expand opportunities for all Americans. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Nathan Nascimento

Executive Vice President

Freedom Partners

Brent Gardner

Chief Government Affairs Officer

Americans for Prosperity

Daniel Garza

President

The LIBRE Initiative

Background:

Freedom Partners, AFP and The LIBRE Initiative Announce Major Campaign to Promote Trade, Combat Tariffs

AFP, Freedom Partners and The LIBRE Initiative Urge White House to Abandon Harmful Tariff Policy in Official Comment to USTR

Freedom Partners, AFP Oppose New Auto Tariffs