US President Joe Biden has imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, steel, solar cells, and aluminium, saying it would ensure that American workers are not held back by unfair trade practices.These include a 100 per cent tariff on electric vehicles, a 50 per cent tariff on semiconductors, and a 25 per cent tariff each on electric vehicle batteries from China.In his address to the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House, Biden said America can continue to buy any kind of car they want, “but we’re never going to allow China to unfairly control the market for these cars.". For years, the Chinese government has poured state money into Chinese companies … it’s not competition, it’s cheating, he said.
The new measures affect $18bn in imported Chinese goods. The US imported $427bn in goods from China in 2023 and exported $148bn to the world’s number-two economy, according to the US Census Bureau, a trade gap that has persisted for decades and become an ever more sensitive subject in Washington.US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the revised tariffs were justified because China was stealing US intellectual property. But Tai recommended tariff exclusions for hundreds of industrial machinery import categories from China, including 19 for solar product manufacturing equipment.
The tariffs come in the middle of a heated campaign between Biden and Trump, his Republican predecessor, to show who’s tougher on China.Asked to respond to Trump’s comments that China was eating the US’s lunch, Biden said of his rival, “He’s been feeding them a long time.” The Democrat said Trump had failed to crack down on Chinese trade abuses as he had pledged he would do during his presidency.
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