Escaping Trump’s tariffs has required navigating a ‘broken’ system vulnerable to corruption, businesses and academics say

New York CNN —

In 2018, Bobby Djavaheri feared his family’s appliance business faced an existential threat from the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese air fryers.

Djavaheri, president of Yedi Houseware Appliances, consulted with a customs attorney and applied for a tariff exclusion with the United States Trade Representative to avoid the 25% levy on the Chinese imports.

Yedi’s application, like most others, was swiftly denied.

“They didn’t even give me an explanation,” Djavaheri said, adding that his LA-based company had to lay off workers and cancel plans to expand. “We were on the up and up. And this just halted our growth.”

Many US businesses have tried, and often failed, to avoid the costs from US tariffs on China. And it underscores frustrations with a tariff exclusion process launched during the first Trump administration that is often described as murky and messy.

“The exclusions process is broken. It’s convoluted and incredibly confusing,” said Tom Madrecki, vice president of campaigns and special projects at the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group that represents Coca-Cola, General Mills, Molson Coors and dozens of other packaged goods companies.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to impose even bigger tariffs on China in the coming months and years.

It’s not clear how or when those higher China tariffs will take effect – nor whether businesses will again have the opportunity to apply for exclusions.

But what is clear is that the USTR’s tariff exclusion process during the first Trump administration raised significant concerns in Corporate America.

Lawmakers and companies worried that the USTR was picking winners and losers. Some businesses complained about an opaque process that