US firms seek tariff relief as US and China try to mend rift

Corporate America is seeking relief from President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on at least $50 billion in Chinese goods as U.S. and Chinese negotiators seek to prevent a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

Best Buy wants televisions to be spared from the tariffs. Sanden International (USA) of Wylie, Texas, warns it will have to lay off 39 of its 431 workers if 25 percent tariffs take effect on the components it uses to make car air-conditioning compressors. SABIC, a petrochemical manufacturer, wants some building materials struck from the tariff list.

As the U.S. government began three days of hearings on the tariffs Tuesday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He traveled to Washington to seek a resolution to the trade dispute.