Biden Reveals Additional Tariffs On Imports From China

In an effort to safeguard his administration’s investments in vital American industries, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced new tariffs worth $18 billion on Chinese imports, which included a steep tax increase on electric vehicles.

EVs, solar cells, steel, aluminum, semiconductors, advanced batteries, vital minerals, solar, and medical products are among the items that the tariffs are targeting.

“American workers can outwork and outcompete anyone, as long as the competition is fair,” President Biden said in remarks delivered from the White House Rose Garden. “But for too long it hasn’t been fair.”

Hitting China’s trade policies, Biden said “it’s not competition, it’s cheating.”

“China heavily subsidized all these products, pushing Chinese companies to produce far more than the rest of the world can absorb and then dumping excess products onto the market at unfairly low prices, driving other manufacturers around the world out of business,” he said.

The election-year actions come as Biden looks to project himself as tougher on China than his predecessor, and expected 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump. Trump imposed some $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods during his administration, many of which are expected to remain in place.

The Biden-Harris campaign, ahead of the White House announcement, sought to highlight the contrast between Biden and Trump.

“After four years of broken promises by Donald Trump, who ceded leadership in jobs of the future to China, Joe Biden’s strong leadership at home and abroad is delivering for the American people,” Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement to ABC News when asked about how the tariffs announcement will play with voters in industrial states like Michigan.

Trump, as he entered the Manhattan courthouse where he is currently on trial, said earlier Tuesday morning that Biden “should have done it a long time ago.”

“But they also have to do it on other vehicles, and they need to do it on a lot of other products because China is eating our lunch right now,” Trump said of Biden’s announcement. “And they went away from what I was doing. They’re eating our lunch.”

Asked by reporters about Trump’s comments during the Rose Garden event, Biden shot back: “He’s been feeding them a long time.”

Biden touted the new tariffs as a “smart approach” as he criticized Trump.

“Compare that to what the prior administration did,” Biden said in his remarks. “My predecessor promised to increase American exports and boost manufacturing. But he did neither. He failed.”

“He signed a trade deal with China,” Biden continued. “They were supposed to buy $200 billion more in American goods. Instead, China’s imports from America barely budged. And now Trump and his MAGA Republicans want across the board tariffs on all imports from all countries if reelected. Well, that would drive up costs for families on an average of $1,500 per year each year. He simply doesn’t get it.”

Tariffs on certain steel and aluminum products will increase from 7.5% to 25%, according to the White House. Semiconductor tariffs will double from 25% to 50% and certain medical equipment (including PPE, surgical gloves and respirators) will be subject to a 25% tariff.

The biggest increase will be on Chinese EVs, which will quadruple from a 25% tariff to 100%.

Biden said he was “determined that the future of electric vehicles be made in America by union workers.”

Though some economists have warned the new tariffs could increase cost to American consumers and worsen inflation.

This is indeed action in the right direction.

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Rose Ajieh