The 100% tax on Chinese electric cars promised by President Joe Biden will come into effect on September 27 in the United States, according to an official document published on Friday, September 13.
Also affected are electric vehicle batteries and solar panel cells, which will be taxed at 25 and 50% respectively. For semiconductors, it will be 50%, starting on 1Ahem January 2025.
These increases in customs duties on Chinese products “strategic” They were announced on May 14 by Joe Biden. The services of the Trade Representative (USTR) therefore specified on Friday, in a document of about 100 pages, the list of affected products, the tax rate and the dates of their entry into force.
These measures “will address China’s harmful policies and practices that continue to penalize American workers and businesses”writes trade representative Katherine Tai in a press release. “These initiatives underscore the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to defending American workers and businesses from unfair trade practices.”
Election theme
The issue is eminently political, less than two months before a very close presidential election, especially since this new series of increases in customs duties is a continuation of those decided by Donald Trump when he was president.
On Tuesday, during the televised debate, his competitor in the race for the White House, the current vice president, Kamala Harris, also criticized him for having, when he was president, “they launched economic wars”with both China and the European Union. The former Republican president replied that the Democratic Biden-Harris administration did not “They never removed the customs duties, because it was so much money that they couldn’t afford it”.
Donald Trump intends, if elected, to raise tariffs again “more than 10%”or even 20% for imports from certain countries.
Kamala Harris denounced a “consumption tax” harmful to the American consumer.
China is “cheating”
The USTR stated in its press release that “the changes proposed in May 2024 [par Joe Biden] have been widely adopted » in the final version.
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However, the press release states that “several adjustments to strengthen measures to protect American companies and workers from unfair trade practices by China after review of more than 1,100 public comments”.
Porcelain “cheat”, but “We are not going to let it flood our market”promised Joe Biden in May, when he announced this new round of tariff increases. “We will never let China control the market” electric cars, he insisted, considering it impossible for American car manufacturers “compete fairly”.
The US government also announced on Friday that it would address “overuse and abuse” a mechanism that allows lower-value imports to enter the United States duty-free. More than a billion packages are delivered in the United States every year, compared to just 10 years ago. According to the US authorities, this increase is due to the growth of Chinese retailers Shein and Temu, which charge very low prices. Therefore, the American authorities intend to exclude certain products from these duty exemptions, a decision that could have repercussions on most Chinese textile and clothing imports.
