Washington: US President Joe Biden has imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, steel, solar cells, and aluminium, saying it would
Washington: US President Joe Biden has imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, steel, solar cells, and aluminium, saying it would ensure that American workers are not held back by unfair trade practices.
These include a 100 per cent tariff on electric vehicles, a 50 per cent tariff on semiconductors, and a 25 per cent tariff each on electric vehicle batteries from China.
In his address to the nation from the Rose Garden of the White House, Biden said America can continue to buy any kind of car they want, “but we’re never going to allow China to unfairly control the market for these cars. Period.”
“I want fair competition with China, not conflict. We are in a stronger position to win that economic competition of the 21st century against China than anyone else because we’re investing in America again,” he said.
Biden alleged that for years, the Chinese government has poured state money into Chinese companies across a whole range of industries: steel and aluminium, semiconductors, electric vehicles, solar panels, and even critical health equipment, like gloves and masks.
China heavily subsidised all these products, pushing Chinese companies to produce far more than the rest of the world could absorb. Then dumping the excess products onto the market at unfairly low prices, driving other manufacturers around the world out of business, he said.
The prices are unfairly low because Chinese companies don’t need to worry about profit because the Chinese government subsidised them and subsidised them heavily.
