Lehigh Valley Business’ Post

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a bundle of steep #tariff increases on an array of #Chinese imports including #electricvehicles, computer chips and medical products, risking an election-year standoff with Beijing in a bid to woo voters who give his economic policies low marks. Analysts have warned that a #trade tiff could raise costs for #EVs overall, hurting Biden’s #climate goals and his aim to create manufacturing jobs. Read this story and more on the #energytransition from Kathari.News #USpoli #USChina

Biden's decision this past week to codify and escalate #tariffs imposed by Trump made clear that the #UnitedStates has closed out a decades-long era that embraced #trade with #China and prized the gains of lower-cost products over the loss of geographically concentrated manufacturing jobs. A single tariff rate embodies that closure: a 100% tax on Chinese #electricvehicles, which start at less than $10,000 each and have surged into showrooms around the world but have struggled to crack government #barriers to the U.S. market.

US President Joe Biden announced a series of #tariff #increases on various #Chinese #imports, including #electric #vehicles, #computer #chips, and medical products. This move risks an election-year standoff with Beijing as Biden aims to appeal to voters critical of his economic policies. #Biden will #maintain #tariffs #introduced by his Republican predecessor, Donald #Trump, while #increasing others. The White House stated that this decision is due to “unacceptable #risks” to #US “#economic #security” from what it sees as #unfair #Chinese #practices that #flood #global #markets with cheap goods. https://lnkd.in/df-5biRt

CPA Applauds Senate Letter Urging Biden Administration to Keep #Section301 #ChinaTariffs Intact WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today applauded a letter led by U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) calling on President Biden and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai to maintain the Section 301 China tariffs, which are currently under review by USTR. Brown was joined by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). “Generations of free trade agreements that prioritize multinational corporations have devastated our communities, harmed our economy, and crippled our job market. Keeping the 301 tariffs in place and increasing the tariffs where necessary maintains a critical piece of a pro-worker trade agenda,” wrote the senators. “Any reduction in the 301 tariffs allows China to gain a competitive advantage over hardworking Americans https://lnkd.in/efNmS2ja

Whether/How #China retaliates against recent US #tariff hikes continues to generate comment. Some Chinese experts urge #restraint it seems, see interesting article below. Meanwhile the debate outside China continues. In response to a thoroughly decent #Biden supporter, who wrote that it in figuring out how Beijing would respond there was a "tricky question" of who they wanted in the #WhiteHouse, I recently replied: A related, tricky question for my well-meaning, trade-loving, Democratic-leaning friends is whether the new hardline #Politburo in Beijing that President Xi has assembled for his third term now sees any meaningful difference between the two US presidential candidates. Where Trump was erratic, Biden's team has been methodical--when it comes to trade and investment restrictions and geopolitical rivalry with China. Whereas Trump actually believes in protectionism Biden does not, yet to shore up his faltering base Biden puts tariffs in place. Seen from the perspective of a newly appointed nationalist in Beijing, are either of these guys reliable? Having elbowed out the few remaining cheese-eating, surrender monkey, liberal internationalists in Beijing, why should these hardliners go tactical and retaliate softly? Unless, they have been assured by the Biden team that the recent tariffs won't last long. Hopefully Biden's base doesn't figure any of that out before election day.... Make no mistake: personally, I have a clear preference for the re-election of the president. But my day job is to be the best possible analyst of trade policy I can.  (Surely you remember US neocons calling French critics of the second invasion of Iraq cheese-eating, surrender monkeys.) Adam Posen Chad Brown Mary E. Lovely Scott Lincicome Michael Strain Christine McDaniel Inu Manak Doug Palmer Brendan Murray Peter S. Goodman Douglas Irwin Emily Blanchard Caroline Freund Renee Bowen Phil Levy David Bach Richard Baldwin Bryce Baschuk Iana Dreyer Wendy Cutler Robert Rogowsky Jake Colvin Tiffany Smith Ken Levinson J Lawrence Broz Alan Beattie Anna Isaac James Kynge Joe Leahy Jason Douglas Finbarr Bermingham Chuin Wei Yap Deborah Elms Mia Mikic https://lnkd.in/eVFFPtXx

One of the most common criticisms of the recent #SCOTUS ruling on the #ChevronDoctrine is that judges should not make decisions that require the expertise that federal agencies possess. Well, if federal agencies are listening to the experts on making rules, I sure don't see it. Port operators and academics--both groups arguably possess far greater expertise than the bureaucrats at the Department of Commerce--have been advising that tariffs on Chinese cranes make no economic or security sense. Is the federal agency listening? Nope. It's going to place politics first by using tariffs to strike a "tough on China" posture for the Biden administration heading into election season, as "national security" continues to metastasize into national cancer, breeding a toxic mix of economic ignorance and conspiracy. So yes, overturning this particular precedence should be celebrated, as our government continues to show that it is utterly incapable of listening to the experts. https://lnkd.in/g5CXA7te

When it comes to foreign policy vis-a-vis China, there is a secular orthodoxy between presidents and across the congressional aisle of taking China on more directly. In this regard, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are more similar than not. It’s therefore unlikely that policy in this area will change after the November election, regardless of who is president. See the latest Weekly Insight where I take a deeper look at Biden's tariffs⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gFZ-6Kt3

Stunning lack of analysis from POLITICO on the impact of 50-60% tariffs across the board on ALL Chinese-made goods. The writers provide analysis from – LOL – "an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign" and that's it. Here's what POLITICO has to say: "Vance and the GOP are counting on a U.S. electorate willing to endure an end to lower-priced Chinese goods as the cost of a stronger U.S. manufacturing base and less reliance on China. That will require 'a little bit of pain in order to deal with the fundamental restructuring that we have to have in our trading relationships in order to have a sounder, fairer, more just economy at home, and to fix our national security problems vis a vis China,' said Alexander Gray, former chief of staff of the National Security Council in the Trump administration and an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign." First of all, "a little bit of pain"? Talk to a real economist and quantify that. Developing "a stronger U.S. manufacturing base" that will replace Chinese manufacturing will take decades. Second, the U.S. electorate, and especially those backing Trump, have demonstrated a complete inability to understand any policy issue at any level. Sadly, Americans are low-information voters (as Britons were when they were presented with the Brexit referendum, and look how that turned out), and incapable of making a sound decision on China trade policy. #china #tariffs #tradepolicy

“China also controls 85 percent of the processing of critical minerals needed for the manufacturing of electric vehicles worldwide — posing a growing challenge to Biden’s efforts to foster a domestic EV industry that would create American jobs and lessen climate pollution.” U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, U.S. Department of Energy Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering TechMet Ltd Office of Strategic Capital Amos Hochstein United States Senate Committee on Armed Services EVelution Energy is just one American company striving to contribute to the revitalization of our domestic industrial base. To foster this effort and build the requisite critical supply chains in the interest of national security, governmental capital channels should prioritize American entrepreneurship. Intermediary allocators are an unnecessary tax on our citizenry during this historic, geopolitical inflection point. We applaud and support the courageous, relentless efforts of Congressman Mike Gallagher, Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Senator Mark Warner to navigate the path forward.

US politicians are increasingly using the term “Made by China” rather than “Made in China”. Practitioners should keep a close eye on this trend and monitor how it will manifest in future legislation or executive action by either party. This all comes as a result of years of CCP global expansion efforts including moving limited manufacturing out of China to avoid 301 tariffs on goods “Made in China,” the belt and road initiative, and the latest reports about plans in MX. https://lnkd.in/entyWr7x