Flush with investment, U.S. factories face familiar tests

Surge of low-cost items coming from China is a problem

The Biden administration has begun pumping more than $2 trillion into U.S. factories and infrastructure, investing huge sums to try to strengthen American industry and fight climate change.

But the effort is facing a familiar threat: a surge of low-priced products from China. That is drawing the attention of President Joe Biden and his aides, who are considering new protectionist measures to make sure American industry can compete against Beijing.

As U.S. factories spin up to produce electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels, China is flooding the market with similar goods, often at significantly

lower prices than American competitors. A similar influx is also hitting the European market.

American executives and officials argue that China's actions violate global trade rules. The concerns are spurring new calls in the United States and Europe for higher tariffs on Chinese imports, potentially escalating what is already a contentious economic relationship between China and the West.

The Chinese imports mirror a surge that undercut the Obama administration's efforts to seed domestic solar manufacturing after the 2008 financial crisis and drove some American startups out of business. The administration retaliated with tariffs on solar equipment from China, sparking a dispute at the World Trade Organization.

Some Biden officials are concerned that Chinese products could again threaten the survival of U.S. factories when the government is spending huge sums to jump-start domestic manufacturing. Administration officials appear likely to raise tariffs on electric vehicles and other strategic goods from China, as part of a review of the levies President Donald Trump imposed on China four years ago, according to people familiar with the matter. That review, which has been underway since Biden took office, could finally conclude in the next few months.

Congress is also agitating for more protections. In a Jan. 5 letter to the Biden administration, bipartisan members of a House committee expressed concerns about China flooding the United States with semiconductors. Lawmakers asked whether the government could establish a new “component” tariff that would tax a chip imported inside another finished product.

DANIEL LOZADA — THE NEW YORK TIMES Some Biden administration officials are concerned that a flood of low-priced Chinese imports could threaten the survival of U.S. factories, such as this solar panel factory in Perrysburg, Ohio, and others throughout the country.

GILLES SABRIÉ — THE NEW YORK TIMES Workers perform a quality check on a solar panel production line at a factory in Suzhou, China, in 2019.