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Biden calls for tripling tariffs on Chinese metals

21 hours ago

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Getty Images US President Joe Biden speaks at Mill 19, a former steel mill being
developed into a robotics research facility, on the campus of Carnegie Mellon
University on January 28, 2022 in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaGetty Images
US President Joe Biden has called for a tripling of tariffs on some steel and
aluminium from China.

It is the latest protectionist policy to be embraced by Mr Biden as he campaigns

for re-election against Donald Trump, who was known for his tough trade stance
against China.

The White House said the proposal was aimed at protecting US jobs against "unfair"
competition.

China has previously denied claims of dumping steel and aluminium overseas.

Dumping is selling excess product in another country for a very cheap price and can
often decimate the local industry's own market of that product.

Speaking to members of the United Steelworkers union in Pennsylvania on Wednesday,

the president said the Chinese prices were "unfairly low" due to the government
subsidising companies "who don't need to worry about making a profit".

"They're cheating," Mr Biden said. "And we've seen the damage here in America."

He said tens of thousands of steelworker jobs had been lost in the early 2000s
because of Chinese imports.

"We're not going to let that happen again," he said.

The Chinese embassy in the US said it "firmly opposes" the measures proposed by Mr
Biden.

"Many trading partners of the United States, including China, are strongly
dissatisfied with the United States' frequent use of national security, non-market
behaviour, overcapacity and other reasons to impose restrictions and politicise
trade issues," embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a statement to the BBC.

Mr Pengyu added he hopes the US will work with China "to stop actions that violate
international economic and trade rules" and cancel the tariffs.
The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that this kind of geopolitical
tension risked damaging global economic growth and pushing inflation in the wrong
direction.

The White House has denied that the tariffs - which would lift a key border tax
rate from an average of 7.5% to 25% on a tiny fraction of imports - would raise
prices in the US.

Mr Biden discussed the proposal - and other pro-manufacturing efforts - at an

election rally in Pittsburgh, a key base for the steel industry in the US.

He and Mr Trump are competing for support from working class voters, who could be a
deciding voting bloc in November's election.

As well as the tariffs, the White House said it would launch an investigation into
unfair trade practices in the Chinese shipbuilding and logistics sectors, acting on
a request from the US Steelworkers union and others.

The White House said it was also pushing for action against Chinese firms looking
to avoid US border taxes by shipping through Mexico.

Mr Biden has also spoken out against a proposed takeover of US Steel by Japan's
Nippon Steel, saying he believed the business should remain US-owned.

The higher tariffs would affect metals imports being reviewed under a so-called 301
investigation, which focuses on policies affecting US commerce.

Many steel and aluminium imports from China already face border taxes, including a
25% duty on certain steel products, which the US put in place under former
president Donald Trump using national security justifications.

Those were ruled to be in breach of global trade rules by the World Trade
Organization and were later dialled back for many countries.

Those tariffs marked a key turn in Washington's approach to trade, which had long
been dominated by free-market, pro-trade consensus.

Mr Trump, who called himself "tariff man", has pledged to be even more aggressive
on trade should he be re-elected.

He has proposed a 10% border tax on all imports, which would jump to more than 60%
for products from China.

Biden treads diplomatic tightrope on Israel-Iran

Where Biden and Trump stand on key issues
International Business
Trump tariffs
Global trade
Donald Trump
Joe Biden
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