Biden Announced New Tariffs on Chinese Imports

On Tuesday, President Biden announced new tariffs on Chinese imports, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman has the story.

Transcript

00:00 America's trade war with China isn't over yet. On Tuesday, President Biden announced new tariffs

00:05 on Chinese imports such as steel and semiconductors, including a more than 100% duty on electric

00:10 vehicles. China heavily subsidized all these products, pushing Chinese companies to produce

00:16 far more than the rest of the world can absorb, and then dumping the excess products onto the

00:21 market at unfairly low prices, driving other manufacturers around the world out of business.

00:26 The New York Times reports that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce called the move "typical

00:30 political manipulation" and said it would "seriously affect the atmosphere of bilateral

00:35 cooperation." Biden's decision seemed to be a vindication of protectionist Trump administration

00:39 policies the president had previously criticized, or at least a recognition of those policies' appeal

00:44 in crucial swing states. "Well back in 2000 when cheap steel from China began to flood the market,

00:50 U.S. steel towns across Pennsylvania and Ohio were hit hard. I'm not gonna let that happen again."

00:56 CNN reports that Trump is currently campaigning on going even further, saying he wants to place

01:01 at least a 60% tariff on all Chinese imports and at least a 10% duty on all imports from anywhere.

01:07 Biden's electric vehicle tariff specifically is intended to protect the U.S. auto industry's

01:12 transition towards green energy, but some experts criticized its potential impact on climate change.

01:17 Albert Park of the Asian Development Bank told E&E News, "If you're thinking about the global

01:22 transition to net zero, or just reducing carbon as fast as possible, then if some country is

01:26 willing to subsidize production of green goods, solar power, EVs, then the rest of the world

01:31 should say thank you very much."