Virtually every U.S. manufacturing industry has felt the damaging effects of trade policy uncertainty and high and broad tariffs over the past four years. The U.S. chemicals industry, the heart of all U.S. manufacturing, was among the hardest hit industries during the Trump Administration’s trade wars, with $20 billion in U.S. chemicals industry imports impacted by the China Section 301 tariffs.
Fast forward to today, and chemistry touches virtually all facets of the Biden Administration’s February 24 Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains and “Build Back Better” agenda. And yet, the tariffs continue to disrupt the U.S. chemical industry’s supply chains and – most importantly – our ability to support priority Biden Administration objectives: making supply chains resilient; strengthening and building infrastructure; and establishing industries essential to American economic competitiveness.