U.S. Senator Susan Collins today introduced legislation to temporarily lower the tariff on certain rayon fibers imported into the United States. The fiber is imported by Tambrands, Inc. of Auburn.
The legislation, called a duty suspension bill, would lower the tariff for three years on a specific patented rayon fiber that the factory needs for its production. Under Senator Collins’ legislation, the tariff on imported certain rayon staple fibers will be lowered from 4.3% to 1.9%. The change would take effect just 15 days after the bill was signed into law.
“This legislation will provide Tambrands with relief from the high duty that they would otherwise be forced to pay to import a product that is necessary to their production, but that they cannot get anywhere in the U.S.,” said Senator Collins.
Duty suspension bills apply to a variety of imported products for which there is no U.S. producer of the product. This ensures that no U.S company is put at an unfair competitive disadvantage. The special rayon fiber used by Tambrands is imported from Germany because there is no domestic producer. Senator Collins’ legislation will exempt the special fiber from the high import tariff applied to textiles imported from Germany, which would otherwise have to be paid by Tambrands.