After two years of delay, President Joe Biden imposed tariffs on select Chinese products, a move hailed by many including President Donald Trump, who wondered, “What took you so long?”
The greatest focus of the newly imposed tariffs will hit electric vehicles and their components, with significant protective tariffs for the U.S. steel industry. Biden’s tariffs will double the cost of Chinese electric vehicles. Biden announced Wednesday that tariffs on Chinese-manufactured:
- Electric vehicles will increase from 25% to 100%.
- Lithium-ion EV batteries and battery parts will increase from 7.5% to 25%. Lithium-ion non-EV batteries will follow suit in 2026.
- Solar panels will double from 25% to 50%.
- Certain steel and aluminum imports will rise from current tariffs of between 0% and 7.5% to 25%.
- Ship-to-shore cranes will increase from 0% to 25%.
- Syringes and needles will increase from 0% to 50%.
- Certain Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will increase from its existing rate of between 0% and 7.5% to 25%.
Also, tariffs on rubber medical and surgical gloves will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2026.
“We applaud President Biden and [U.S. Trade Representative Katherine] Tai for taking this important action to increase Section 301 China tariffs in these critical industries,” said Zach Mottl, chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) in a statement emailed to The Washington Stand. “There is overwhelming evidence, including from the [Biden administration], that proves what CPA has been saying for more than a decade: tariffs are a critical reshoring tool to stimulate domestic production, avoid future inflation, and to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains.”
Opponents argued that higher prices in the short-term will raise costs on Americans during a time of rampant inflation. “It’s definitely bad for the average consumer,” Yaël Ossowski of the Consumer Choice Center, which opposes tariffs, told reporter Chris Woodward of the American Family Radio Network. “It’s very reminiscent of the same trade war we had from President Trump back when he was in power.”
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