WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is raising tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors and several other products imported from China, threatening Chinese competitors with unfair practices in industries the United States is trying to grow. The trade war between the two world’s largest economies is escalating as the United States accuses them of
The move, which comes amid rising tensions between the United States and China, is aimed at protecting American industry in the clean energy sector, where the administration is targeting major investments to catch up with China.
Imports from China include solar cells, batteries, battery materials, cranes used in ports, some medical supplies, as well as steel and aluminum, which are subject to increased tariffs.
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For months, the Biden administration has accused China of flooding global markets with goods at artificially low prices, putting U.S. manufacturers of products such as electric vehicles and microchips at a severe disadvantage. It has criticized trade practices.
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Lael Brainard, chairman of the White House National Economic Council, said the purpose of the tariff hike is to ensure that “historic investment in jobs spurred by President Biden’s actions is undermined by a flood of unfairly undervalued exports from China.” “We need to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” he said.
The Biden administration has overhauled tariffs over the past year, but has left in place more than $300 billion in tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump. Biden is expected to announce the new increase in a White House speech on Tuesday.
Tariff increases include:
- Electric cars in China: from 25% to 100% starting this year.
- Chinese semiconductors: 25% to 50% by 2025.
- Chinese-made lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles: 7.5% to 25% this year.
- Solar cell imports from China: increased from 25% to 50% this year.
- Steel and aluminum products: forming 25% from 0%-7.5% this year.
- Land container cranes imported from China: from zero to 25% this year
- Hospital syringes and needles made in China: from zero to 50% this year.
China strongly opposed the tariff hike.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the move was “self-defeating” and contradicted the agreement reached by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit in San Francisco last November.
“More importantly, it will have a negative impact on the world’s green economic transition and climate action,” Wenbin said. “We call on the United States to simultaneously stop repairing and digging up roads, so to speak, and create enabling conditions for Sino-American climate cooperation and a global green transition.”
“China will take all necessary measures to protect its rights and interests,” another ministry spokesperson said last Friday.
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The move comes as Mr. Biden is courting the support of working-class voters in swing states in the Midwest, including Michigan, the heart of the U.S. auto industry, in the run-up to the November election.
Mr. Biden is borrowing the trade strategy of Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner who regularly raised tariffs on Chinese goods during his four years in office.
Speaking outside a New York courtroom during the 17th day of his hush-money trial, Trump said of Biden’s tariffs: “Where have they been for the last three and a half years? They should have done it a long time ago.” Told. “But they have to do it with other vehicles, and they have to do it with many other products, because China is eating our lunch right now.”
Biden has sought to differentiate his tariff approach from his predecessor’s new tariff plans. Last month, Biden criticized Trump’s campaign proposal, saying it would impose “uniform tariffs on imports from all countries, which could seriously harm American consumers.” President Trump has proposed imposing tariffs of more than 60% on all Chinese imports and warned that the U.S. auto industry faces “bloodshed” if he loses the November election.
Mr. Biden is betting his economic policy on a renewed U.S. manufacturing boom centered on electric vehicles and clean energy.
The Biden administration says it has helped spur more than $860 billion in private investment by passing legislation in the first two years of its administration to incentivize the manufacturing of electric vehicles, clean energy products, microchips and other investments. There is.
Brainerd said the tariff increases will “ensure that American businesses and workers have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field in industries critical to our future, such as clean energy and semiconductors.”
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In a campaign speech to the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh last month, Biden called for tripling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China.
Each tariff increase reflects the recommendations of Biden’s U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who evaluated the rates as part of a mandatory four-year review.
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
