Biden Expands Tariffs on Chinese Imports Amid Fair Trade Concern

Following a mandatory four-year review of Section 301 tariffs on U.S. imports from China, the White House announced today that these tariffs will remain in place, with increases planned for certain products.

The review process was conducted by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for the tariffs which initially took effect in 2018 under the direction of the Trump administration

The impetus for the increase in tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on $18 billion worth of imports from China is due to various actions China has taken, according to the White House, including unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation threatening American workers and flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports.

What’s more, the White House observed that President Biden has long maintained that while American workers and businesses can outcompete anyone—if there is fair competition—the Chinese government has leveraged unfair, non-market practices. Those practices, it noted, include forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft contributing 70%-to-90% of global production for the necessary critical inputs for American technologies, infrastructure, energy, and healthcare, in turn, creating “unacceptable risks to America’s supply chains and economic security.”

“China is using the same playbook it has before to power its growth at the expense of others.”

— Lael Brainard

“China is using the same playbook it has before to power its growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest despite excess Chinese capacity and flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair practices,” said Lael Brainard, National Economic Advisor for the President's National Economic Council. “China is simply too big to play by its own rules. The President’s actions reflect the conclusions of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s mandatory four-year review that China continues to engage in unfair practices, such as forced technology transfer and restrictions and intellectual property theft from U.S. companies.”

Notable tariff hikes on U.S.-bound imports from China cited by the White House include:

certain steel and aluminum products under Section 301 increasing from 0-7.5% to 25% in 2024;
semiconductors increasing from 25% to 50% by 2025;
electric vehicles under Section 301 increasing from 25% to 100% in 2024;
lithium-ion EV batteries increasing from 7.5% to 25% in 2023, with the tariff rate on lithium-ion non-EV batteries increasing from 7.5% to 25% in 2026, and the tariff rate on battery parts increasing from 7.5% to 25% in 2024 (the White House said that China controls more than 80% of certain segments of the EV battery supply chain “despite rapid and recent progress in U.S. onshoring”);
solar cell tariff rates, whether or not assembled into modules, will increase from 25% to 50% in 2024;
ship-to-shore cranes increasing from 0% to 25% in 2024; and
for medical products, tariffs on syringes and needles increasing from 0% to 50% in 2024, certain personal protective equipment, including certain respirators and face masks, increasing from 0-7.5% to 25% in 2024, and tariffs on rubber medical and surgical gloves increasing from 7.5% to 25% in 2026

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