Lincoln Chafee: “Today I am introducing 13 bills to suspend the duty on the importation of certain products that are used by…”

“Today I am introducing 13 bills to suspend the duty on the importation of certain products that are used by manufacturers in my home state of Rhode Island. The products in question are organic replacements for colorants that use heavy metals--such as lead, molybdenum, chrome, and cadmium--in the plastics and coatings industries. Heavy metal colorants traditionally have been used in the coloration of plastics and coatings, especially where the applications are subjected to high heat, or where high weatherfastness or lightfastness are required. Until recently, finding substitutes for these heavy metal-based products was difficult. However, thanks to new formulations, a number of organic products have proved themselves to be satisfactory substitutes. Reducing our reliance on heavy metal colorants makes sense environmentally. However, none of the organic substitutes in question are produced in the United States. Thus, our producers have no choice but to import the substitutes and pay the requisite import taxes, which range from 6.6 to 14.6 percent. The total price tag associated with these duties, while relatively small in the context of our federal budget, translates into a considerable business cost to the importing manufacturers. The added cost hurts their ability to compete, and thus their ability to maintain their workforce. Yet, given that there is no domestic industry producing these substitutes, the duties serve little purpose.”