Biden’s tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods focus on strategic industries.
Although the Biden administration won’t admit it, new tariffs on China announced on Tuesday represent a big change for President Joe Biden.
Back in 2019, Biden criticized then-President Donald Trump’s move to impose tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
“Trump doesn’t understand the basics. He thinks China is paying for his tariffs,” Biden said at the time. “Any freshman economics student can tell you that Americans pay the tariffs.”
And in 2020, during his campaign for the White House, Biden vowed to eliminate President Trump’s tariffs if elected.
Research shows that U.S. consumers primarily bear the burden of these taxes.
But now Biden is not only keeping Trump-era tariffs in place, he’s actually making them even stronger.
It’s true that Biden’s new tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports are focused on a few strategic industries. At a Rose Garden event announcing the new measures, Biden touted it as a “sensible approach” targeting goods such as electric vehicles, solar cells, steel, aluminum and certain medical devices.
But he has maintained many of the sweeping Trump-era tariffs he was once so critical of.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was repeatedly grilled about the apparent reversal during daily White House press briefings.
“In terms of the price that Americans paid in the previous era, some of it, probably a lot of it, was about the chaos and unpredictability that it created and the escalation that resulted.” Mr. Tai said.
Tai added that in addition to looking at prices, the long-standing review of Trump-era tariffs also looked at whether China had changed its behavior.
“We have seen problematic practices of subsidies in some sectors not only not being seen, but getting worse. “I see no reason or justification for mitigation,” she said. she said.
Still, the National Retail Federation is calling on Biden to eliminate these tariffs, saying, “As consumers continue to fight inflation, the last thing the administration should do is hurt U.S. importers and, by extension, U.S. “Imposing additional taxes on imported products that would have to be paid by the government.” consumer. ”
Biden’s change in policy partly reflects the political environment in which Biden and Trump are fighting to appear tougher on China in preparation for a rematch in 2024, but China’s trade practices It also reflects a growing recognition that the economy is putting pressure on American manufacturers and workers.
The Thai ambassador argues that China’s economic model is built on “a state-sponsored system built to control and take over entire industries.” Tai added that the Chinese government’s subsidies are aimed at “cornering” the global market and achieving “dominance” and “dependence.”
Greta Peisch, former general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative, told ABC News: “Things are changing and evolving. There was an expectation that China would become more of a free market over time, but we’re seeing the opposite. I’ve seen it firsthand,” he said. In recent years, trade has been distorted by Chinese practices. ”
