During a review of his economic legacy on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden called the new tariffs his successor Donald Trump has vowed to impose a “major mistake”, while urging the president-elect not to reverse his signature policies on critical technology and green energy.
Advertisement
In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Biden said that Trump “seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought to this country in a mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs, rather than the American consumer”.
“I believe this approach is a major mistake. I believe we’ve proven that approach is a mistake over the past four years.”
Biden did not explain why, if tariffs hurt American consumers, he chose to continue most of those Trump had imposed during his first term. Katherine Tai, Biden’s US trade representative, has argued that tariffs against China are a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries.
When Biden succeeded Trump in January 2021, he inherited tariffs on an estimated US$300 billion in imports from China that Trump had initiated when he started a trade war in 2018.
Advertisement
While keeping most of those intact, Biden even added tariffs on another US$18 billion in electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar panels and other imports from China, key tech sectors that Washington and Beijing are vigorously competing in.