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News > U.S.

US: Removal of Tariffs on Specific Chinese Products Possible

  • American trade expert Gary Hufbauer says that the U.S. should eliminate or at least reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports imposed during the Trump administration. May. 11, 2022.

    American trade expert Gary Hufbauer says that the U.S. should eliminate or at least reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports imposed during the Trump administration. May. 11, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@MeerAbdullahPSX

Published 11 May 2022
Opinion

Discussions are ongoing as to whether the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will withdraw additional tariffs on Chinese imports implemented by the previous Trump administration.

Following remarks on inflation at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, President Biden said that no decision had been made on the issue, adding that it is being studied what is likely to have the most positive impact. 

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In this regard, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the U.S. administration previously announced some tariff exclusions in March. "We continue to review where it would be advantageous to take steps that would help reduce wages or increase wages and help certain industries affected by these tariffs in a way that we don't think is effective," Psaki said.

According to the press secretary, additional tariff exclusions will be forthcoming. Psaki said that President Joe Biden is currently weighing them and added that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai leads that effort. 

These statements have been made since the U.S. faces the highest inflation in four decades.
Based on the U.S. Department of Labor data, the March consumer price index (CPI) jumped 8.5 percent from a year earlier, the most significant increase in 12 months since the period ended in December 1981. 

 In his speech on Tuesday, President Biden said that such a rise in inflation is mainly due to the challenges in the supply chain stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.     

On this point, Gary Hufbauer, Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), said that both massive fiscal easing and Federal Reserve sluggishness brought about the current situation. 

According to Hufbauer, removing or at least reducing additional tariffs on Chinese imports will help lower high inflation and stabilize inflation expectations. The immediate effect of removing the additional tariffs on Chinese products would be a 0.3 percentage point reduction in the CPI, according to a study published on the PIIE website.  

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