United States Trade Representative (USTR) has concluded the one-year Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK. As per Sourcing Journal, the taxes aim to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, while suspending the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide additional time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) and in the G20 process.

At a USTR hearing last month, Blake Harden, Vice President, Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), stressed imposition of any additional tariffs on imported goods would hurt American companies, consumers and workers without obtaining the elimination of Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, or the UK’s digital services taxes.

Beth Hughes, Vice President-Trade and Customs Policy, American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), added that the group has serious concerns that the imposition of new punitive duties on US imports from Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U. would result in great harm to the domestic industry and exacerbate supply chain disruption issues.

From USTR’s proposed product lists, members of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, including Walmart and Target, import goods such as cosmetics, perfumes and shampoos from the U.K.; carpets, bed linens, curtains, tiles, kitchen fixtures and bathroom ceramics from Turkey; glassware and footwear from Spain, and jewelry and furniture from India.

Harden fears that the tariff may fail to convince US’ trade partners to withdraw or reform their digital services taxes. They may also harm US’ retailers’ ability to compete globally, he adds.