Staff Reports
The Biden administration is getting ready to put more tariffs on things like electric cars, computer chips, solar stuff, and medical gear that come from China. The idea is to make the tariffs on electric cars go up a whole lot, from 25% to 100%. The people who talked about this plan did not want their names known since they were not allowed to give out the details before the big announcement.
The Biden administration is planning to announce new tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China https://t.co/2p47aorZp1
— KESQ News Channel 3 (@KESQ) May 11, 2024
The Democrats in charge say they are worried about China making too many electric cars and other stuff, which they think could be bad for American jobs and safety. Big countries like the United States and some of its friends in Europe are scared that all the low-priced stuff from China could mess up their own factories. In America, they are especially worried that China’s green energy things will mess up the big investments made in green energy from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden said yes to in August 2022.
The new tariffs also could be a big deal for the next election in November. Both Biden and the person who might try to take his job, the old President Donald Trump, have said they will take a tough stand against China, which is the world’s second biggest economy after America and a country that the United States is not really friends with.
Biden says he wants to “compete with China, not fight with them.” He has a plan to help new factories and smart technology with money from the government, and to not let China get too much of the computer chips and other stuff. Trump said he thought about making really big tariffs on China to get America to buy less stuff from there. He said Biden liking electric cars would make American factory jobs go to China.
The plan for the new tariffs is going to put the same tariffs on stuff from China that were put in place when Trump was the president. The new tariffs will also put a tax on things like Chinese needles and solar stuff.
But the problem is that if America puts on tariffs like this, China might get mad and start a bigger fight about trade stuff. China wants to be the best in smart technology and the economy.
Some people think that China might not make as many lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric cars, phones, and other things, because countries in the West are getting mad about it. China is thinking about new rules that say companies should make batteries that are better, cost less, and do not take up too much space. Farms or places where things are made that are too close to other stuff might have to stop making batteries, the new rules say.
The person in charge of trade in America is checking out the tariffs that Trump put in place, and some people in the Republican Party are telling her to hurry up and tell everyone what she thinks. They say if she keeps waiting, it could be bad for people who make things and work at small businesses.
One Democrat from Ohio said on the computer that just having tariffs is not enough. He said America should stop letting Chinese electric cars come here.
The Biden people have also talked about checking out Chinese “smart cars” that can take in secret info about Americans who drive them. The people in charge of money in America went to China and told them they should not be making so many electric cars and solar stuff. They said if China keeps making so much of this stuff, it could mess up the prices for things all over the world.
