US-China Tug-of-War over Customs Duties
Beijing is challenging President Joe Biden's decision: “Protectionism and hypocrisy on the part of Washington”
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that sharply raises customs duties on many categories of products, from steel to aluminum to electric cars, exported by Chinese industry to the USA. The White House accused China of “unfair trade practices” that “pose an unacceptable risk” to the “economic security” of the United States.
The list of products declared “toxic” by Washington is long and virtually bans $18 billion worth of Chinese exports. In addition to maintaining duties on $300 billion worth of Chinese products already imposed by the previous Donald Trump administration, this time Chinese exports of metals, semiconductors, electric batteries, some minerals important to the energy transition, photovoltaic panels, and many other industrial products will be affected. The goal, as the Joe Biden administration wrote in a press release, is to “protect US strategic industries from unfair Chinese competition.”
Duties on Chinese exports of steel and aluminum products will rise from 7.5% to 25%, and on semiconductors and photovoltaic panels will double from 25% to 50%. But the toughest, or rather “prohibitive” measures concern electric cars: customs duties on cars imported from China will be quadrupled, rising sharply from the current 25% to 100%.
Beijing reacted very harshly to Biden’s decision to escalate the trade war with China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called a special press conference on Tuesday, May 14, to demand that Washington abandon hypocrisy, double standards and not fall into the mistake of protectionism. “China has always opposed unilateral tariff increases in violation of World Trade Organization rules and will take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests,” Wang told reporters, accusing the USA and the European Union of seeking to “suppress other countries’ advanced industries.” According to the Chinese diplomatic spokesman, “the USA implements protectionism, tramples the principles of market economy, the rules of international economy and trade. It’s pure bullying.”