Manufacturers that use sugar as their main raw material have voiced their disagreement with the efforts made by the Dominican authorities to obtain permission from the U.S. government to impose tariffs ranging from 100 to 133 percent on imports of sugar in excess of 17,000 tons. They say that this measure could badly hurt their businesses because the National Sugar Council is currently unable to meet domestic demand, estimating a current deficit of some 60,000 thousand tons. They consider the proposed measure to run counter both to their own interests and that of the nation as a whole.