As President Joe Biden's administration debates whether to lift tariffs on Chinese-made injection molds, U.S. tool building companies are continuing their aggressive push to keep the duties in place.

More than 15 U.S. mold making companies submitted formal comments to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai since mid-November, saying that it's vital to their economic health to keep 25 percent tariffs on made-in-China plastic and rubber injection molds. Export Injection Mold Making

It continues a campaign the American Mold Builders Association started in September, but what's new is the USTR is now — as part of the government's formal tariff review process — also officially asking those who oppose the duties to make their best case.

It's been hotly contested in the past. In 2018, more than 200 opponents of the tariffs, including many injection molding companies relying on Chinese molds to make automotive components, flooded the USTR with comments and convinced the agency to lift the tariffs for one year.

The duties were originally imposed in July 2018 as part of the first round of then-President Donald Trump's aggressive use of tariffs on Chinese manufacturing.

This current USTR review by the Biden administration covers hundreds of products, not just injection molds.

But the mold making industry appears to be adopting an early, vocal strategy to try to protect its position — more than 15 of the 89 comments USTR received by Dec. 12 came from plastic mold makers.

"We have gotten several orders since this tariff has been in place for molds that were previously built in China," said Dan Glass, an AMBA board member and sales and project manager at Strohwig Industries in Richfield, Wis. "We cannot compete without the tariffs. ... It helps level the playing field with our Chinese competition."

Westminster Tool Inc. told USTR that the tariffs let it hire eight additional staff and invest $2.5 million in new equipment. It said the tariffs encourage plastic molding companies to use U.S. mold builders.

"If these tariffs were to be removed, we would not be able to compete with Chinese industry that cuts costs in ways that would be illegal here in the United States," the company said. "In addition, the increase in work from this tariff has enabled us to buy new state-of-the-art equipment, giving us the resources to continue innovating."

Westminster Vice President Hillary Thomas sits on the AMBA board.

AMBA is urging its members to file comments with the USTR, noting previous efforts that saw hundreds of mold making companies comment to the government and help restore the tariffs in late 2019, and keep them in place since then.

In this latest round, none of the 89 comments across all industries have asked the federal government to remove the injection mold tariffs, but it's still somewhat early, as companies have until Jan. 17 to file comments with the USTR.

In other industries, however, many comments have come in pushing to eliminate tariffs. The government is required by law to review the duties after four years.

Manufacturers or importers of auto parts, bicycles, agricultural equipment, power conversion machinery and plastic resins, among others, have asked for the tariffs to be lifted.

In general, they've argued that the tariffs have added to inflation in the United States and made their companies less competitive globally. They complained that higher tariffs on Chinese components they use hurt their ability to hire workers and be profitable.

Progressive Dynamics Inc., a maker of power conversion equipment in Marshall, Mich., told USTR that the tariffs ripple through other sectors of manufacturing and raise costs.

"As a result of incurring section 301 tariffs of 25 percent on more than half of our components, PDI was forced to raise prices to our customers, all of whom are North American businesses," the company said. "This price increase is directly passed on to U.S. consumers, so there is clearly a direct relation to the current inflationary economy."

Perhaps anticipating similar arguments from opponents of mold tariffs, some tool builders told the USTR that they did not think 25 percent duties on Chinese injection molds would increase costs to the average U.S. consumer.

"Others may try to use inflation as a reason to remove the tariffs, but price dumping from China to eliminate jobs here and send those jobs [and dollars] overseas only hurts our economy as a whole," said Toby Bral, director of sales and marketing at MSI Mold Builders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"When a typical injection mold lasts at least 500,000 shots [many last into the millions of parts] the cost difference between US molds and cheaper Chinese ones is pennies," Bral wrote. "I would be hard pressed to find a product that had a price increase pass through to the consumer due to a mold price."

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