Page 11 - Aruba-today-17 Sept 2020

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BUSINESS Thursday 17 sepTember 2020
U.S. companies seeking tariff relief faced red tape, delays

By PAUL WISEMAN enact tariffs was a costly
AP Economics Writer mess," Alabama Demo-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Com- cratic Sen. Doug Jones said
panies seeking relief from in a prepared statement is-
President Donald Trump's sued with Sens. Pat Toom-
taxes on imported steel ey, R-Pa., and Tom Carper,
and aluminum ran into D-Del.
long delays and cumber- The process, Jones said,
some paperwork, a federal "was quickly overwhelmed
watchdog found. and backlogged, lead-
The U.S. Government Ac- ing American businesses
countability Office report- to pay tariffs they shouldn't
ed that the Commerce owe and to spend months
Department, overwhelmed trying to resolve their claim
by companies lobbying to with the department.''
avoid the tariffs, could not Responding to the GAO in
meet its own deadline for a letter, Commerce Sec-
processing around three- retary Wilbur Ross said the
fourths of the requests. department agreed with
And Commerce rejected the recommendations and
nearly a fifth of the appli- had already taken steps to
cations before weighing resolve the paperwork is-
the merits of the appeal sues and to expedite deci-
because the paperwork In this June 28, 2018, file photo, rolls of finished steel are seen at the U.S. Steel Granite City Works sions.
was incomplete or includ- facility in Granite City, Ill. Last October, the internal
ed errors. Associated Press watchdog for Commerce
Trump's tariffs were contro- also criticized the way the
versial from the beginning. tariffs, primarily by showing GAO found that 19,000 re- The GAO called for Com- department handled tariff
Invoking a rarely used pro- that they could not get the quests were turned down merce to find out why so relief requests, saying that
vision of a 1962 law to label metals they needed in the "prior to decision due to many companies failed the lack of transparency
steel and aluminum imports United States. incorrect or incomplete in- to fill out the paperwork created "the appearance
a threat to U.S. national se- In a report released late formation.'' GAO said that correctly, to take steps to of improper influence.''
curity, Trump slapped tariffs Tuesday, GAO said that the Commerce did not try to speed up the decision- The Commerce inspec-
of 25% on foreign steel and Commerce Department learn why so many appli- making process and to tor general found that
10% on aluminum in 2018. was inundated with 106,000 cations failed to meet its study the impact the tariffs department officials had
The idea was to strength- requests for exclusion from submission standards or to had on the metals markets discussed cases with "inter-
en U.S. producers of steel the tariffs -- far more than fix the problem. and on companies that ested parties'' without men-
and aluminum by shielding expected. The department About two-thirds of the consume steel and alumi- tioning the exchanges in
them from foreign compe- was supposed to reach a requests for relief were ul- num. official records. It also said
tition. decision on each case in timately approved, GAO "The GAO's findings affirm that Commerce made it
U.S. companies that relied 60 to 149 days, depending found. But Commerce what thousands of busi- more difficult for compa-
on foreign steel and alu- on whether U.S. aluminum missed its own deadlines in nesses around the country nies to get exemptions af-
minum were allowed to and steel producers ob- 79% of steel cases, and 72% have known to be true: ter hearing objections from
appeal for relief from the jected to the request. of aluminum cases. the administration's rush to supporters of the tariffs.q

Celebs join Instagram 'freeze' to protest Facebook inaction

BY KELVIN CHAN "I can't sit by and stay silent on Instagram and support
LONDON (AP) — Kim Kar- while these platforms con- from her and other big
dashian West, Katy Perry, tinue to allow the spread- names for the boycott saw
Leonardo DiCaprio and ing of hate, propaganda Facebook shares slide in af-
other celebrities are taking and misinformation – cre- termarket trading late Tues-
part in a 24-hour Instagram ated by groups to sow di- day. They were down 1.7%
"freeze" on Wednesday to vision and split America ahead of the market open
protest against what they apart – only to take steps on Wednesday.
say is parent company after people are killed," The organizers behind
Facebook's failure to tackle Kardashian West posted on "#StopHateforProfit," in-
violent and hateful content her Instagram account on cluding civil rights groups
and election misinforma- Tuesday. such as the Anti-Defama-
tion. Facebook declined to tion League, the NAACP
Hollywood stars and influ- comment but pointed to and Color Of Change,
encers are lending their recent announcements had previously led a cam- This Friday, Aug. 23, 2019 file photo shows the Instagram app
backing to the "#StopHate- about what it's doing to paign that got hundreds of icon on the screen of a mobile device in New York.
forProfit" movement's latest limit the reach on its plat- brands and nonprofits to Associated Press
campaign. The movement form of groups that support join a Facebook advertis-
asks people to put up a violence and its efforts to ing boycott in July. dozen Hollywood stars and groups to call "on all users of
message highlighting what protect the U.S. election in Ashton Kutcher, Mark Ruf- celebrity influencers sup- Instagram and Facebook
they called the damage November. falo, Kerry Washington, Ro- porting the campaign, the to protest the amplification
Facebook does but other- With 188 million followers, sario Dawson, Jamie Foxx organizers said. of hate, racism, and the un-
wise refrain from posting on Kardashian West is one of and Sacha Baron Cohen DiCaprio said he was dermining of democracy
Instagram for a day. the most influential people were among about two standing with the civil rights on those platforms." q