May 14 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Tuesday increased tariffs on some $18 billion of imports from China to counter what the White House is calling "unfair trade practices" by Beijing.
Among the increases announced Tuesday, President Joe Biden followed through on plans last month to call on the U.S. Trade Representative to triple tariff rates for steel and aluminum from 7.5% to 25%.
"China's policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries mean high-quality, low-emissions U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese alternatives produced with higher emissions," the White House said, citing a $6 billion investment in 33 clean steel and aluminum manufacturing projects in the United States.
"Today's actions will shield the U.S. steel and aluminum industries from China's unfair trade practices.
Related
The White House on Tuesday also announced that this year electric vehicle tariffs will rise from 25% to 100%, while tariffs on lithium-ion EV batteries will grow from 7.5% to 25%, the tariff rate on solar cells will double from 25% to 50% and ship-to-shore cranes will get a 25% tariff while syringe and needles will be slapped with a 50% tariff for the first time.
Semiconductor tariffs will go from 25% to 50% by 2025.
"China's unfair practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers," the White House said in a statement. "China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports."
The White House complained that the United States' past trade deal with China under former President Donald Trump failed to increase U.S. exports to China and increase American manufacturing as predicted.
"Under President Biden's Investing in America agenda, nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created and new factory construction has doubled after both fell under the previous administration and the trade deficit with China is the lowest in a decade."
In April, as Biden weighed tripling the steel tariffs, the White House said the Commerce Department had conducted nearly 27 investigations into efforts by China and other countries to evade trade rules and engage in anti-competitive practices.
Earlier that month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China where she expressed concerns about "overcapacity" of Chinese goods including EVs on the U.S. market.
The tariff announcement comes on the same day that high-level officials from the United States and China will meet in Geneva over concerns on the increasing use of artificial intelligence and how to manage its use and growth.
