Biden Goes Big on Tariff Talk

Wednesday the White House took bold actions to shore up the president's standing with the rapidly shrinking pool of  voters in American steel manufacturing and shipbuilding.  

"I’m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history, for real,"he told an audience in Pittsburgh.  "Where I was raised, it ain’t labor; it’s unions,"     

• President Biden is calling on the USTR to  "consider enhancing the effectiveness of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products" by tripling them.

• The Department of Commerce is taking action against countries and importers that "do not play by the rules and flood the market with cheap products." with over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products.  Commerce has also conducted "nearly 27" investigations into anti-competitive actions by Chinese exporters and efforts by "countries like China" to evade trade rules.

• The White House is working with Mexico to jointly prevent China’s and other countries’ evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum that is imported from Mexico into the United States. 

• The United States Trade Representative is initiating an investigation into China’s unfair trade practices in shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors.

• In light of the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, President Biden continues to contend that U.S. Steel "has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and that it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated."

• Today’s announcements build on the Administration’s commitments to green steel production, recently announcing up to $1.5 billion for six clean iron and steel projects.