WASHINGTON—The National Retail Federation today urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to avoid 25 percent tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods and released a new study examining key product categories and the negative impact on American consumers. “We support efforts to achieve better trade deals, but American consumers shouldn’t be caught in the crosshairs,” NRF senior vice president of Government Relations David French said during testimony prepared for a USTR hearing last month.

“For most of the consumer products on this list, there are very few alternative sources of supply,” French added.

French cited a new report commissioned by NRF and prepared by the Trade Partnership Worldwide projecting that American consumers would pay $4.4 billion more each year for apparel, $2.5 billion more for footwear, $3.7 billion more for toys, and $1.6 billion more for household appliances if the administration proceeds with the additional tariffs.

As part of monthly consumer surveys conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, NRF has been tracking the public’s growing concern over the trade war. The June survey found 81 percent of consumers are “concerned the ongoing trade war will cause prices to increase,” an increase of 12 percentage points since November 2018.

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