Gottheimer Fights for and Delivers Tariff Relief for Fifth District Jobs and Businesses

Today, Monday, October 28, 2019, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced that products from an innovative North Jersey company Snow Joe, LLC, would be excluded from the list of proposed tariffs on $200 billion of imported goods.

Snow Joe is an American-owned, New Jersey-based company operating a factory outlet in Lodi and soon opening a 270,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Mahwah. Gottheimer Earlier this year, Gottheimer wrote to the U.S. Trade Representative requesting “full and fair consideration” of Snow Joe’s request for an exclusion of pressure washers from the Administration’s $200 billion dollar tariff action against China. In 2018, Gottheimer joined a bipartisan group of House members in urging the USTR to establish an exclusion process for List 3 tariffs.

In a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, Gottheimer stated, “While I support efforts to combat China’s unfair trade practices, especially the theft of intellectual property, I believe that a 10 or 25% tariff on certain items…would harm key businesses, jobs, and consumers here in New Jersey and across the country.”

Gottheimer continued, “Imposing tariffs on these household products would ultimately result in higher costs and limited choice for many American consumers who use everyday outdoor tools.”

In a letter dated October 23, 2019, the General Counsel to the United States Trade Representative notified Snow Joe that the company’s exclusion request for these products had been granted.

Gottheimer had previously written to the U.S. Trade Representative in June 2018, requesting exclusions for electric and cordless snow shovels and snow throwers from the proposed Section 301 tariffs.

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