The Biden administration's new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other strategic sectors aim to protect the future of U.S. manufacturing, but they will likely accelerate a shift of Chinese production to Mexico, Vietnam and elsewhere to avoid them.
U.S. officials and trade experts say that without strong efforts to cut off transshipped or lightly processed Chinese goods from Mexico and other countries, China's underpriced excess production will still find its way into U.S. markets.
"The new tariffs might keep out imports from China but it is likely that much of those imports could be rerouted through countries not subject to the tariffs," said Eswar Prasad, trade policy professor at Cornell University and a former China director at the International Monetary Fund.
Mexico and Vietnam, in particular, have benefited from escalating U.S.-China trade tensions due to their lower costs and proximity, Prasad said, adding that they both need to avoid Washington's "ire" while reaping new manufacturing investments.
@GiraffeEvaDemocrat2wks2W
Slapping tariffs on Chinese EVs won't fix the basic problem in the US automobile industry: US manufacturers are not making or marketing the kinds of cars that the US population should be buying and driving.
Unfortunately we need very low-cost (sub $20,000) electric vehicles from China to help cut global greenhouse gases from vehicles - and help save the planet from climate change. So far, US manufacturers (even Tesla), as well as European and Korean companies have proven that they cannot do this.
So, do we worry about saving US jobs and the wealth that US auto companies create now, or worry about saving the planet for future generations? Let's ask the young people who will inherit the planetary mess.
@MurkyPearSocialist2wks2W
So we are forced to pay double for EV's than we should have to to save the stupid Detroit Three from bankruptcy!
Much more expensive solar panels, much more expensive batteries. Significantly higher inflationary risk.
The tariff showed we are no longer confident about ourselves. Using trade barriers and tariffs will hurt our country's competitiveness in the long run.
Honestly Biden has lost his mind. He is trying to out-Trumping Trump to win some questionable votes while have no idea how this will affect the country.
@QuorumDaveDemocrat2wks2W
Blame the extremely flawed electoral college. Biden is focused on a handful of voters in a handful of states because unfortunately it's all that matters in our voting system.
@L3gislat1veDeanDemocrat2wks2W
The U.S. is no different than China with our corporate welfare system that rewards rich people over consumers every time. China is leading the world now in quality electric cars at reasonable prices. The U.S. can either put its head in the sand while the rest of the world moves on, or recognizes that green products are not the enemy and should not be subject to these tariffs until the world is safe from . . . those we give corporate welfare to in the U.S., the oil industry.
Every country provides some form of economic welfare to their industries. The problem here is how China is providing it to pretty much every industry compared to only a few in other nations. We kept the welfares low to allow for some free market competition, but China decided they wanted it all. So here we are, needing to do tariffs to reign in the greed.
Anything he does will be slow walked by his Bureaucrats and if he's elected again, it will be right back to destroying America from within. This is for show. Too little, too late. Bureaucrats have to go! Vote wisely.
@AboardRadical2wks2W
Exactly. This is DNC vote buying particularly intended for union consumption and particularly intended for Michigan and Pennsylvania. If he's re-elected Biden's tariff rhetoric never sees the light of day.
It's the same political calculus being used in the Gaza war. The DNC has calculated that it can easily afford to loose the Jewish vote in the deep blue states in favor of skimming Pro Palestinian votes in Michigan where the margins are very slim.
Back in 2019, every single Democratic candidate for President criticized Trump's tariffs on China. They called it a "trade war" and declared it bad for Americans, but now tariffs are just fine because Joe is doing it in an election year.
Blinken's recent trip to China was part of an effort to stop them from helping Russia. The new tariffs tell us the trip was a failure.
@AboardD1rectRepublican2wks2W
Trump was right on everything. Even the lunatic marxist reality denying Dems have to admit it.
@RedStateBitternDemocrat2wks2W
the one thing Trump got right was his stance on China. But even there he was boneheaded as he applied tariffs all over the place and alienated Europe and Canada where he should have simply singled out China and coordinated tariffs with Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Western Europe. In fact, getting out of the TPP (just because Obama administration signed it) set back the efforts to rein in China.
Biden's going to announce the resumption of building the Keystone Pipeline next, though it'll have to be done by illegals.
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