Biden Hikes Tariffs on Chinese Imports to Counter ‘Unfair Trade Practices’
Taking a page out of his predecessor’s playbook, President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Tuesday that it is raising tariffs on Chinese good across several sectors the White House believes to be strategically important.
Citing concerns about China’s “unfair trade practices,” the Biden administration announced that it is sharply increasing taxes on a variety of Chinese imports, including steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and critical minerals, according to a White House fact sheet.
“Today’s actions to counter China’s unfair trade practices are carefully targeted at strategic sectors—the same sectors where the United States is making historic investments under President Biden to create and sustain good-paying jobs—unlike recent proposals by Congressional Republicans that would threaten jobs and raise costs across the board,” the White House said, adding that Trump’s China trade policies “failed to increase American exports or boost American manufacturing.”
Under the Biden plan, steel tariffs will increase from 7.5 percent to 25 percent this year. Semiconductor tariffs will spike from 25 percent to 50 percent by next year. In 2022, Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to subsidize U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and to pour resources into research and development.
Semiconductors are widely viewed as a key part of the United States’ strategic competition with China and an essential component of manufacturing a variety of goods.
