Biden pushes higher Chinese metal tariffs in ‘Steel City’ Pittsburgh
WASHINGTON/PITTSBURGH — President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Wednesday called for sharply higher US tariffs on Chinese metal products as part of a package of policies aimed at pleasing steelworkers in the swing state of Pennsylvania, at the risk of angering Beijing.
As he campaigned for reelection in the “Steel City” of Pittsburgh, Mr. Biden’s aides said the US president was proposing raising to 25% the tariffs imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products.
“China’s steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit,” Mr. Biden said as he visited the headquarters of the United Steelworkers union. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America.”
The products now being targeted currently face up to a 7.5% levy under a Trump-era policy under Section 301 of the US trade law, which Biden launched a review of in 2022. The proposed higher tariff rate would apply to more than $1 billion worth of steel and aluminum products, a US official said.
The Biden administration is also pressuring neighboring Mexico to prohibit China from selling its metal products to the United States indirectly from there.
At the same time, it is launching an investigation into Chinese trade practices across the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors, which could lead to more tariffs.
The measures invite blowback from China at a time of already heightened tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, called the tariffs an “embodiment of unilateralism and protectionism,” adding that the US government was “making the same mistake again and again.”
Mr. Trump’s broader imposition of tariffs during his 20172021 presidency prompted China’s retaliation with its own levies.
“No trade war,” Mr. Biden told reporters traveling with him. But Mr. Biden’s trade representative told Congress on Wednesday that there was need for “decisive” action to protect electric vehicles from subsidized Chinese competition, and Reuters reported the administration would also restore some solar tariffs.
Pennsylvania is one of a halfdozen battleground states likely to decide the November election rematch between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. The economy ranks among voters’ top concerns.
Officials said on Wednesday the intervention was “targeted” and should not worsen persistently high inflation.
During an emotional speech in which he also referenced his son Beau, who died of cancer in 2015, Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump did not deserve to be commander in chief.
Mr. Biden and his Republican opponent have each courted union leaders and blue-collar workers in faded industrial hubs who comprise a significant voting bloc in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada, all of them swing states.
The steelworkers union, which sought the measures Mr. Biden is adopting, endorsed him last month. —