PITTSBURGH — President Joe Biden will call for a tripling of Chinese steel and aluminum tariffs when he speaks to union members at a Pennsylvania battleground on Wednesday.
Biden, who is set to speak at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers, is in the middle of a three-day swing in the state that focuses on economic issues, with his opponent, former President Donald Trump, faces jury selection On trial in New York on charges of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with an adult movie star.
The Biden administration says China is producing too much to export to the United States, driving down prices and hurting the American economy because high-quality U.S. products must compete with artificially low-cost alternatives.
The current average tariff on steel and aluminum from China is 7.5%, and Biden is calling on the Office of the US Trade Representative – the federal agency responsible for developing US trade policy – to triple the tariff rate.
Biden is also directing his administration to work with Mexico to prevent China from evading tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Mexico to the United States.
However, critics argue that increased tariffs will backfire and increase consumer prices and inflation. It is in China he denied excessive capacity charge considers it “unfounded” and accuses the United States of trying to prevent global competition.
“If implemented, these measures will not increase inflation,” said a senior administration official. “But they will protect American jobs and the steel industry.”
Biden is stepping up his economic rhetoric against China. There’s Trump, there’s that he said would think 60% tariff on all Chinese imports.
During the Trump administration, he imposed new tariffs on washing machines, solar panels, steel, aluminum and billions of dollars worth of goods from China. The new fees amounted to an annual tax increase of $80 billion. According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit tax policy group. Biden retained most of Trump’s China tariffs.
The push comes at a controversial time when the White House opposes the purchase of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Shareholders have just approved the potential dealbut faced a backlash from union members and Biden, who then redoubled his efforts to ally with unions joined the picket line Last year with the United Auto Workers and won the endorsement of the United Steel Workers.
The White House says nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created during the Biden administration and construction employment is at a record high, with polls showing Biden significantly ahead of Trump when it comes to voters’ perception of who will run the economy better.
Some see the crackdown on China as an acknowledgment that the Biden administration needs to do more to show that it is reining in an unpopular economy.
“This has nothing to do with the election,” said a senior administration official. “I think it’s really about us moving from a place of confidence and strength because our economy is growing and manufacturing is picking up again.”
But John Basalyga, a developer in Scranton who strongly supports Trump, blames the Biden administration for increasing the cost of doing business.
Biden “says his policies are helping middle America,” he said. “Just walk around and ask real people in this country and they’ll tell you the exact opposite.”
The White House is hoping that the demand for increased tariffs on China will resonate with blue-collar voters in Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania. Joe Padavan, a retired steelworker from Wilkes-Barre, said Biden has stood up for his union members and stood up to China — and he doesn’t blame him for high inflation or rising prices.
“The problem today is corporate greed more than anything else,” Padawan said. “So hopefully by putting in some tariffs, that will bring some of our people here. Why pay the tariffs when you can build it here?”