Biden administration to tax foreign-made steel and aluminum imports routed through Mexico

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum shipped from Mexico that were made elsewhere — an attempt to stop China from avoiding import taxes by routing goods through one of the United States’ closest trading partners.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the tariffs announced Wednesday will be levied as part of an agreement with Mexico through section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which applies to imports that could threaten U.S. national security.

There will be a 25% tariff on steel not melted or poured in Mexico and a 10% tariff on aluminum.

The new taxes on steel are meant to address the evasion of tariffs by China, the dominant producer of more than half of the world’s steel. The aluminum taxes would also hit production based in China, Belarus, Iran and Russia.

The move is also a clear political shot at Republican Donald Trump, President Joe Biden’s predecessor and his likely opponent in November’s election. Brainard noted that Trump could have taken similar actions but failed to do so.

“The president is taking action to close loopholes left by his predecessor that allowed China to circumvent trade rules,” she said.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fbiden-tariffs-mexico-china-steel-aluminum-b00486d74d437b3b1d9f2b99a67d74ca%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-05-26%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays»