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Biden and Trump, strong positions on tariffs on Chinese goods

2024-05-18 19:54:23, Kosova & Bota CNA

This week, President Joe Biden drastically increased tariffs on imported Chinese goods, including electric cars, steel and aluminum products and semiconductors. The decision follows his administration's review of former President Donald Trump's trade policies toward China. VOA White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara takes a look at the two presidential candidates' differences in their approaches to the issue.

Getting tough on China is one of the few issues on which both Democrats and Republicans, including President Joe Biden, agree.

"For years, the Chinese government has poured public money into Chinese companies in several industries such as steel, aluminum, semiconductors, electric cars, solar panels, future industries," he says.

And his predecessor, Donald Trump, says: "China is now competing with us unfairly."

Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump say they want to punish China for trade practices that violate international rules.

This week, Mr. Biden quadrupled tariffs on electric cars to 100 percent, tripled tariffs on some aluminum and steel products to 25 percent, and doubled tariffs on semiconductors to 50 percent.

"We will counter China's overcapacity in these industries. And we're making big investments in pure American steel and aluminum," Mr. Biden declared. He announced the measures after reviewing Mr Trump's policies.

Mr. Trump said that: "It is too late. They should have done this in time. But it should also do this for other vehicles and for many other products."

Ahead of the November election, both candidates are keen to emphasize that their policies toward Beijing will benefit American workers.

The wide-ranging tariffs on Chinese imports from seafood to electronics were first imposed by Mr Trump. Mr. Biden has retained some of them, targeting key sectors such as clean energy.

This is in line with his plan to increase domestic production of electric vehicles and other technologies aimed at combating climate change and dominating high-tech manufacturing industries.

Another key difference is that President Biden aligns his efforts with allies, including the Group of Seven industrialized nations, the G-7.

"The Trump administration was quite willing to use tariffs to secure better deals. It was less willing to invest locally, try to create alternative supply chains. And they were probably less willing to work with allies to build those supply chains," says Rachel Ziemba.

Mr Trump says his broader approach of billions of dollars in tariffs is better, while Mr Biden says measures against some specific sectors are more effective.

In any case, Beijing promises to retaliate while American voters will show their preference in November./ VOA