As federal lawmakers craft policies to mitigate the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, business groups are lobbying for relief packages to include provisions that boost the industries they represent, Politico reported Monday.

Multiple associations have called on the administration to end Trump-era tariffs on imports from China. Others have lobbied for much more industry-specific changes, such as the National Retail Federation seeking a tweak to tax law that would result in up to $30 billion in refunds to hotels, restaurants and retailers.

The advocacy has led some critics to charge that trade groups and lobbyists are exploiting the national crisis for their own ends.

"Some of the requests for aid appear opportunistic on their face while others seem truly desperate," the lobbyist Dave Oxner wrote in a recent note to clients, as noted by Politico.

David French, senior vice president for government relations at NRF, pushed back, noting the tax tweak his group sought would inject money into businesses that are struggling in the wake of the coronavirus.

"We're not trying to take advantage of a crisis," he said.

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