The Government of China has expressed a 'serious concern' in economic mattersthis after the president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced his intention to triple tariffs on steel imports.
China's foreign affairs spokesman, Lin Jian, considered that President Biden's statements “are totally inconsistent with the facts,” in addition to This could damage economic and trade relations between both countries..
It is important to mention that Biden's statement occurred during a speech at the headquarters of the steel union in Pittsburgh, for this the US president requested the analysis of the director of Foreign Trade, Katherine Tai. That is This measure is not yet completely official.
The official Lin Jian indicated that the US plan “goes against the consensus reached” between Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this during the month of November 2023.
Currently the United States economy applies a 7.5 percent tariff to certain steel and aluminum products, so this measure would not increase significantly to 22.5 percent. However, the increase in tariffs would not come into effect immediately, since it would first have to be analyzed by the United States Trade Representative Office (USTR).
In addition, the US government will launch an investigation into Chinese business practices in the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors. A measure may result in more tariffs.
Biden's economic announcement reflects the influence of his trade policy in the attempt to win the support of the working class, specifically in the key states for the presidential elections in the United States that will take place next November.
It should be remembered that during Donald Trump's government, tariffs were imposed on Chinese products valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, to which Beijing decided to respond with new taxes and This triggered a trade war that hampered global growth and even caused disruptions to supply chains..
Although in recent months there has been a rapprochement between the US and Chinese governments, trade tensions have worsened because Washington considers that there is 'excess industrial capacity' on the part of China, specifically in the solar energy or electric vehicle sectors.
For its part, The Government of China has argued that “an abundance of exported goods” would “encourage market competition”this in the face of criticism from other countries that state support for different sectors causes excess industrial capacity.
