President Joe Biden is calling on the U.S. Trade Representative to triple the China tariff rate on steel and aluminum imports as he makes the rounds in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
“Prices are unfairly low because China’s steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government subsidizes them so heavily,” Biden said at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburg on Wednesday. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating.”
Biden’s demand to raise the current 7.5% average tariff on steel and aluminum is an effort to make clear that his administration’s recent warnings about China’s trade practices are not empty threats.
“These are strategic and targeted actions that are going to protect American workers and ensure fair competition,” Biden added.
On a visit to China last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raised concern that Chinese subsidies were creating an oversupply of clean energy products, like solar panels and electric vehicles, that would outpace domestic demand. She worried that overcapacity could be dumped on global markets at artificially cheaper prices, potentially stifling competition.
In an interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Yellen said that tariffs were not off the table if those overcapacity qualms went unaddressed.
Chinese officials and state media have since denied the overcapacity accusation, saying that its abundance of supply of clean energy products is a result of “constant innovations,” not government subsidies.
