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The Biden administration is preparing to announce new tariffs on imports of Chinese products such as electric vehicles, which it sees as a policy priority.
The announcement, which could come as early as next week, was confirmed by a source familiar with the tariff deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of announcing the official decision.
The U.S. administration has been considering tariffs on Chinese products since President Biden took office. High tariffs on approximately $370 billion worth of Chinese imports each year were imposed by former President Donald Trump as one of his signature policy measures.
The Biden administration has decided to keep Trump's tariffs in place and add a number of strategic items to the list. The decision was first reported by Bloomberg.
Tariffs are part of Biden's industrial policy
The new items to be subject to tariffs are consistent with Biden's policy priorities on climate, technology and manufacturing, the sources said. These areas are covered by Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, which would make hundreds of billions of dollars available to boost the domestic clean energy and semiconductor sectors.
Biden has campaigned hard on the jobs created by the massive legislative package. He has insisted the project will use American products and labor.
“When people see shovels in the ground on all these projects, when they see people going to work laying new pipes, I hope they feel the same pride I feel – pride in being home again,” he said last week. said to Wilmington, North Carolina
It's a message meant to resonate in swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which have lost huge numbers of jobs as manufacturing moved overseas.
Last month, Biden announced in a speech to members of the National Steel Workers' Union in Pittsburgh that he would raise tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from China, with more than 14,000 steelworkers in Pennsylvania and Ohio losing their jobs between 2000 and 2010. pointed out.
He then promised, “We will make sure something like this never happens again.”
President Trump also announced that he would expand tariffs on imports targeting Chinese cars.
Biden, in Pittsburgh, sought to contrast his approach as “strategic and targeted” and said Trump's broad approach would increase costs for American consumers.