A group of more than a dozen U.S. senators have written a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR), asking the agency to remove the 25 percent tariffs on food, wine, and spirits imported from Europe.
According to Reuters, which has reportedly seen the text of the letter, the senators are making this request on behalf of “restaurants, retailers, grocers, importers and distributors” who are experiencing economic complications due both to the increased cost of those items—which include everything from salami and cheeses to coffee, wine, and Scotch whisky—and the decreased demand for those products due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, they write, importers and distributors are stuck with “months’ worth of product, much of it perishable.”
The letter was signed by a bipartisan group of seven Republicans and six Democrats, including Corey Booker (D-NJ), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Pat Toomey (R-PA).
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