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Arlington, Va. — Tom Madrecki, the vice president of supply chain resiliency at the Consumer Brands Association, issued this statement in reaction to President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal and universal tariffs earlier this week.
On April 2, Trump announced that a minimum 10% tariff would be imposed on all imports to the US beginning April 5. This affects countries including the UK, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, numerous nations will encounter significantly higher tariffs starting April 9.
The tariffs consist of 49% on products from Cambodia, 46% on imports from Vietnam, and an additional 34% on Chinese goods (on top of the previously announced 20% tariffs). Goods imported from the EU will incur a 20% tax.
CBA statement in full:
“As the largest domestic manufacturing sector by employment, supporting more than 22 million American jobs and contributing $2.5 trillion to the U.S. GDP, the consumer packaged goods industry already manufactures the majority of its products here in the United States. However, there are critical ingredients and inputs that need to be imported due to scarce availability domestically. No amount of tariffs will bring these inputs back to the U.S. However well intended, the success of the President’s America First Trade Policy, must recognize the U.S. companies that are already doing it the right way but depend on imports for specific ingredients and inputs that cannot be sourced domestically. Reciprocal tariffs that do not reflect ingredient and input availability concerns will inevitably raise costs, limit consumer access to affordable products and unintentionally harm iconic American manufacturers. We encourage President Trump and his trade advisors to fine-tune their approach and exempt key ingredients and inputs in order to protect manufacturing jobs and prevent unnecessary inflation at the grocery store.”
