Biden Seeks To Triple Tariffs On Chinese Steel And Aluminum

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the White House announced a series of measures designed to shield the domestic steel, aluminum and shipbuilding industries from alleged trade abuses by China.

The biggest step Biden announced is that he will be asking the office of the United States Trade Representative to explore the possibility of tripling the current 7.5% tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum imports.

Biden’s planned policy changes are in keeping with his administration’s interest in bolstering U.S. manufacturing and heavy industry.

It is also part of Biden’s effort to pitch himself as a more effective tribune of working-class interests than former President Donald Trump, who made a show of trying to save manufacturing jobs from competition with China.

“The president understands we must invest in American manufacturing, but we also have to protect those investments and those workers from unfair exports associated with China’s industrial overcapacity,” Lael Brainerd, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on a call with reporters on Tuesday night.

Even as he seeks to eat into Trump’s support in industrial regions, the very authority that Biden is tapping to potentially expand tariffs on Chinese imports speaks to the extent to which he has sought to continue and expand upon the more hawkish trade policies of his predecessor, Trump.

Biden is calling on the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to examine whether its authority under Section 301, which permits the U.S. to impose trade sanctions on trading partners that produce an “unreasonable” burden on U.S. commerce, permits it to triple the tariffs on Chinese steel