2024-04-18 02:44:52
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked the Office of the Trade Representative to study increasing tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, accusing Beijing of “unfair and non-market” practices. Biden directed this government office to triple the fees from their current level, but stressed that the matter is not related to a trade war with this global economic power. This increase may have political and electoral dimensions. The American President seeks to attract mining workers in the country, and his announcement of this step came before an election rally at the headquarters of the Mining Industries Workers Union in Pennsylvania.
Published on: 04/18/2024 – 04:44
4 minutes
In a move that may reignite trade tensions between the two largest economies in the world, he called US President Joe Biden On Wednesday, the office of his country’s trade representative, Katherine Tai, to consider tripling customs duties on Chinese steel and aluminum. At the same time, the Office of the Trade Representative, which advises the president, announced the opening of an investigation into “unfair” trade practices carried out by Beijing in the shipbuilding, navigation, and logistics sectors, but China considered the American investigation “full of false accusations.”
Biden stressed that he does not want to get involved “trade war” With China, against the backdrop of the increase he intends to impose on steel and aluminum customs duties from Beijing, in a new signal directed at a group of voters whose support he needs amid his electoral campaign to win a new term.
With the presidential elections approaching in November, Biden called on US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to “consider increasing the tariffs” imposed on some Chinese steel and aluminum imports, which currently average 7.5 percent, “three times.”
Biden said on Wednesday, “No trade war,” in statements to reporters during an election tour in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in response to a question about whether he feared that increasing tariffs would lead to a confrontation with the second largest economy in the world.
The Democratic president is seeking to convince voters that he is the best ally of workers and unions. In this context, he visited the headquarters of the Mining Industries Workers Union, after he finally received their support after confronting the Japanese company “Nippon Steel”’s acquisition of the giant American steel group, US Steel.
When announcing its support for Biden, the union criticized his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who is also seeking to win the votes of the working class and presents himself as a defender of reviving the American manufacturing industry, promising to increase customs duties by a large percentage if he is elected.
Investigation against China
Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation into “China’s unfair practices in the areas of shipbuilding, maritime transport and logistics activities.”
The US Trade Representative’s Office will undertake the investigation, which comes in response to a request from a number of union bodies in this sector that denounce Chinese policies that are “more aggressive and intrusive than any other country.”
For its part, Beijing said on Wednesday that it strongly opposes the US investigation into China’s trade practices in the shipbuilding, navigation and logistics sectors, noting that it is “full of false accusations.”
A statement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that the US investigation “is full of false accusations, misinterprets normal trade and investment activities as harming US national security and corporate interests, and blames China for its (US) industrial problems.”
The White House announcements come against the backdrop of a sharp rivalry with China, despite the resumption of dialogue between the world’s two leading economic powers, and the measures taken to reduce the United States’ dependence on Chinese industries.
The Biden administration says it has doubled investments in new factories in the United States since it took power in January 2021, also confirming the creation of about 80,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector.
France 24/AFP
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