Poliquin, Collins spearhead bicameral, bipartisan push to protect Maine-based company

U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) want to protect Hussey Seating Co., a Maine-based, family-owned business that manufactures and globally distributes bleachers and auditorium seating, from increased costs due to recent federal trade actions.

A new round of recently proposed tariffs by the Trump administration aimed at ending China’s alleged theft of United States intellectual property could cause significant financial harm to the 183-year-old Hussey Seating, wrote the lawmakers in a Sept. 6 letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer.

“Businesses in Maine, like Hussey Seating, are already suffering at the expense of previous tariffs imposed by the Administration,” according to the letter, which also included the signatures of U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME).

Trump’s newly proposed import taxes are part of a $200 billion tranche of tariffs aimed at China, according to a Sept. 10 statement released by Rep. Poliquin’s office, and would be in addition to the U.S. Commerce Department’s earlier Section 232 tariffs on global steel imports.

“As a major competitor in the industry, the company has already seen its prices for domestically sourced steel, aluminum, and other parts dramatically increase because of earlier Section 232 trade actions by the Department of Commerce,” the members wrote about Hussey Seating.

They urged that the USTR consider and immediately assist in removing “three tariff subheadings from the proposed supplemental $200 billion tariff action list” against Chinese imports, specifically those related to seats.

“Further measures like this proposed Section 301 action will hurt Hussey’s ability to compete because the custom molds and tools they use to make their products exist only in China,” according to the lawmakers’ letter. “To relocate or replicate these products will cause Hussey to incur higher costs as it locks in half of its contracts well before beginning new projects.”

The new tariffs also would disrupt Hussey Seating’s supply chain, according to the Maine contingent, and “cause irreparable harm to its long-term standing in its industry.”

The Maine delegates continue efforts to mitigate the impact of recent trade actions on other Maine industries, such as the lobster industry, according to Poliquin’s statement.