Biden finalizes increases to some of Trump’s China tariffs

The Biden administration said Friday that it has finalized tariff hikes on certain Chinese-made products that the president first announced in May.

The Biden administration said Friday that it has finalized tariff hikes on certain Chinese-made products that the president first announced in May. The tariff rate will go up to 100% on electric vehicles, to 50% on solar cells and to 25% on electrical vehicle batteries, critical minerals, steel, aluminum, face masks and ship-to-shore cranes beginning September 27, according to the US Trade Representative’s Office. Tariff hikes on other products, including semiconductor chips, are set to take effect over the next two years. The administration’s increases – which impact a relatively small amount of US imports – come as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have clashed over tariffs on the campaign trail. Trump is calling for sweeping new duties on all imports, while Harris has said that his proposal would raise prices on American households. Trump implemented sweeping tariffs on about $300 billion of Chinese-made products when he was in office. President Joe Biden has kept those tariffs in place and, after the USTR finished a multiyear review earlier this year, decided to increase some of the rates on about $15 billion of Chinese imports. The products that will now face increases are in line with Biden’s other economic policies aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing in industries including clean energy and semiconductor chips.