As a followup to the reports below, FDRA is working with the Americans for Free Trade Coalition (AFT) to send a letter to the President urging him to implement the 90-day deferral of duty payments.
We need as many company President/CEO signatures on the letter as possible.
Please email Matt Priest (
[email protected]
) or Thomas Crockett (
[email protected]
) by 5:00 p.m. EDT TODAY if your company will sign.
We need the following information exactly how you would like to be listed on the letter (Name, Title, Company, City and State).
Text of the letter:
March 30, 2020
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Trump,
Thank you for the unprecedented steps your Administration has taken to meet the enormous liquidity challenges that have been created by the economic fallout of the deadly COVID 19 pandemic. These steps have included delaying many payments, such as income tax and student loans. Until these payments are ultimately made, these delays will give Americans access to much needed cash to help them survive during these challenging times. In that vein, we are writing to ask for additional, urgent help this week.
We are urgently asking you to delay the collection of duties, including those that many companies were required to pay this past Friday, for a period of 90-180 days to give companies like ours access to cash that would normally be paid to the U.S. government.
Delaying duties helps us preserve cash flow – critically important during a prolonged period of little to no revenue – allowing us to keep our businesses in operation so we can preserve U.S. jobs. At the same time, delaying duties does not undermine the effect of tariffs on trade flows because the money is still due.
Mr. President, only you can take this swift action, but in doing so, you would provide immediate relief to both large and small businesses, including manufacturers, retailers and other service providers, farmers and ranchers.
