Biden Follows Trump’s Lead in Latest China Tariffs—But Differences Loom Large

The Democrats’ 2020 platform accused President Donald Trump and his team of “launching a trade war with China that they have no plan for winning.”

But President Joe Biden’s administration has maintained Section 301 tariffs on China instituted by his predecessor. Now he’s using that same, once-controversial law in a broadly comparable way.

President Biden’s new Section 301 tariffs on Chinese steel, aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and other products garnered their own “trade war” headlines earlier this month, including from the free-trade Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg, like other outlets, observed that the tariffs are coming during an election year. In just a few months, President Biden will have a rematch with a familiar opponent, one whose past tough talk on China looks more and more prescient.

Robert Lighthizer, who served as U.S. trade representative under President Trump, recognized the striking continuity between administrations in his 2023 memoir, “No Trade is Free.”

Read Full Article Here