President Biden moves to triple tariff rates on Chinese steel and aluminum

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 16, 2024.

WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden is moving to triple the rates of tariffs on steel and aluminum from China amid pressure from labor unions concerned about the survival of the U.S. steel industry as Chinese exports flood the global markets.

Biden, during an address Wednesday to the United Steelworkers union in Pittsburgh, will announce he’s calling on his United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, to consider tripling the existing 7.5% average tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum under Section 301 of the Trade Expansion Act, according to the White House.

With the move, Biden is borrowing from the trade playbook of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee, who routinely raised tariffs on Chinese goods during his four years in office.

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Lael Brainard, the White House director of the National Economic Council, said China − which produces more than half the world’s steel − is making more steel than the world can absorb, “flooding global markets at artificially low prices” and “undercutting American steel that is clean.”

Production of Chinese steel isn’t subject to the same level of environmental regulation as the U.S. requires domestically.

“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,” Brainard said. “China cannot export its way to recovery. China is simply too big to play by its own rules.”

The price of Chinese steel exports is about 40% lower than the price of U.S. exports. The higher tariffs are designed to provide a “more level playing field against China’s unfair trade practices” and protect American jobs in the steel industry, a senior Biden administration official said.

The higher tariffs apply to Chinese steel and aluminum imports that weren’t subject to a Trump-era 25% tariff still in place on certain steel imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

An administration official said the White House does not believe raising the steel tariffs risks further increasing inflation, which has remained high despite recent economic gains.

The U.S. steel industry has been rattled by the planned $14.9 billion sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel − an iconic American brand for more than a century − to Japanese-based Nippon Steel Corporation.

Biden last month came out in opposition of the sale, which is under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The United Steelworkers union, which opposes the deal, endorsed Biden’s reelection bid shortly after he announced his opposition.

Biden’s move on tariffs comes one week after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese leaders in Beijing. Yellen said she relayed the U.S. is worried China’s “weak household consumption and business overinvestment” pose “significant risk to workers and businesses in the United States and the rest of the world.”

It is unclear when the higher Chinese steel tariffs would go in effect. U.S. tariffs imposed under Section 301 nearing the conclusion of a statutory four-year review. Any formal action would follow the review.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden moves to triple tariff rates on Chinese steel and aluminum