Beijing slams Washington over reported tariffs on Chinese EVs
The US’ reported plan to levy tariffs on imports from China’s emerging industries is adding mistakes to mistakes and its commerce department’s decision to add 37 Chinese entities in the high-tech sector to a trade restriction list is abusing export control tools to suppress Chinese companies, which will prompt necessary countermeasures from China, a Chinese Foreign Ministry (FM) spokesperson warned on Friday, urging the US to stop politicizing trade matters and cracking down on Chinese companies on so-called national security grounds.
The latest moves showed that the US is stepping further down the path of clamping down on Chinese companies and “decoupling” with China, observers said, warning that there will be serious consequences.
The Biden administration is set to announce new China tariffs as soon as next Tuesday targeting strategic sectors including electric vehicles, batteries and solar equipment, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, the US moved to tighten its technology crackdown on Chinese firms after the US commerce department added 37 Chinese entities to a trade restriction list, including some companies accused of involvement in the balloon incident in 2023, and also citing other reasons such as national security and links to Russia.
Observers told the Global Times that the moves revealed the illogical and
groundless smear campaign by some Western media and politicians hyping so-called Chinese “overcapacity” in green products is no more than a stepping stone for trade protectionist measures that had long been planned by the Biden administration, which lays bare the US’ ulterior motive of cracking down on and stymieing China’s development.
In response to reported US levying of more tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other green exports, FM spokesperson Lin Jian said on Friday that the actions are “doubling the US’ fault,” noting that the WTO has already ruled the Section 301 tariffs against WTO rules.
Instead of ending those wrong practices, the US continues to politicize trade issues, abuse the so-called review process of Section 301 tariffs and plan tariff hikes. China will continue to do what is necessary to defend the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies, Lin said.
US politicizing trade matters
Following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China in April, there has been a marked uptick in the US’ actions aimed at provoking China in trade and economic matters.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday warned that the US may take “extreme action” and seek to ban Chinese connected vehicles on national security grounds.
Analysts warned that the US government has walked away from its pledge to avoid holding back China’s economic growth and formulated new measures to crack down on Chinese companies and engage in “decoupling”, which is hurting the positive atmosphere of engagement and dialogue that had developed in recent months.
Li Yong, a senior research fellow from the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Friday the US’ continued crackdown on China’s high-tech sectors and emerging industries is not surprising and represents more of the US saying one thing but doing another.
Lü Xiang, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that the reports on a potential rollout of additional tariffs on Chinese green products showed that the Biden administration now believes there is an urgent need to resort to protectionist trade measures to shore up the US traditional industries and salvage some voters’ support.
However, Lü said any trade protectionist moves taken by the Biden administration are unlikely to halt the downward trend of the US economy, noting that the US government’s investment and industrial policies have been so far proved ineffective in boosting overall investment in the US.