President Joe Biden has asked the US Trade Representative to ask China to triple the tax rate it charges on goods like steel and aluminum that come from other countries. The president is in Pennsylvania right now, visiting the headquarters of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh. Biden wants to raise the tariffs that are already in place on steel and aluminum, which are 7.5%.
Janet Yellen, the secretary of the Treasury, recently said she was worried that China was making too many clean energy goods, like solar panels and electric cars. Her worry is that if there are too many, they will be dumped at lower prices, which could hurt the market.
Officials in China have rejected claims that they make too many clean energy products and said that the supply of these products is due to “constant innovations” rather than government subsidies.
He said, “China’s policy-driven overcapacity poses a serious risk to the future of the American steel and aluminum industry.” Lael Brainard is the director of the National Economic Council. “China cannot export its way to recovery,” he said. China is just too big to follow its own rules.
They hadn’t talked in years after Trump left office, but Biden has tried to fix things with China and get them to talk to him more. When the government accuses China of something and then raises tariffs because of it, it’s hard to have that kind of connection.
There has been some worry about the inflation that might happen after taxes are raised, but many Biden Administration officials have said this is not the case. “That will be made clear again by the president.” Someone in the administration said, “He told the steelworkers he would have their backs, and he does.”
Biden has also said what he thinks about selling U.S. Steel, which he said would not happen. He said that it was important for U.S. Steel to stay owned and run by Americans, so the sale to Nippon Steel of Japan would not happen.
