Call for import tariffs

US manufacturers called for the imposition of tariffs on Chinese imports after it emerged that the country’s trade deficit with China for 2005 is on course to surpass US$200 billion, agencies reported. Commerce Department figures showed the total US trade deficit stood at US$64.2 billion for November, the China deficit accounting for one quarter of this. For the 11 months to November, the deficit with reached US$185 billion and is expected to exceed US$200 billion when December’s figures are added. �The United States can no longer allow China to use predatory trade practices to destroy US jobs and factories,� said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC).